“I want to tell her, but I don’t know how, I’m not even sure she’d believe me if I did.”

“You know what I just thought about? How are we going to get back to New Pegasus anyway?” I asked Wind Thrasher as we walked out into the courtyard.

She looked at me confused then pointed out toward the gate that led into the courtyard, “Don’t you remember? Sheena had Cutter and his team get the sky carriage for us and they fixed it up.”

I looked where she was pointing and saw the sky carriage sitting there, looking better than it had before we even left Cartwheel, “Damn, it looks a lot nicer.”

Sheena was standing next to the sky carriage with her husband and son. When she saw us, she waved and came walking over, “I heard that you would be leaving today so I made sure to have your sky carriage brought over from the shop in town that was working on it.”

“It looks wonderful Empress Sheena.” I said walking close to it. Whoever had fixed the carriage had knocked out all the dents, fixed the shattered windows, and even painted it. It was now as black as my coat and where the Steel Ranger’s symbol had been, was now the words ‘Equestrian Express’ just like my Duster, “Why did you put Equestrian Express on it?”

The Emperor chuckled, “That was my idea Shadow Star, you do work for Old Box Tape do you not? I used to trade with him back when I was still a young buck, I figured having his companies name on the side was better than traveling around with the Symbol of those nasty Steel Rangers.”

“I guess, but still if I fly around in this, ponies will know it’s me. That could put us at risk of getting attacked again.” I said.

Stardust patted my head saying, “Don’t worry too much about it, you should be proud of who you are.”

“Yeah Shadow, don’t worry about who knows it’s you. Most ponies back home are too scared of you to do anything.” Wingnut said.

“Maybe, but I guess you’re right, I really do like it.” I said with a smile.

Aura rolled her eyes, “I’m just glad it’s fixed, I’d hate to have to carry you all the way back to New Pegasus on my back.”

I winked at her, “Awww, and here I thought you would’ve jumped at the chance of me riding you for hours on end.”

We all laughed, then Sheena looked between Aura and I with a smile, “I am glad you two were able to finally show each other how you feel.”

“My mom likes playing match maker,” Prince Fruit Stripe said with a smile, “It’s a good thing she’s good at it or the towns folk would get annoyed with her for being so nosey.”

Sheena’s mouth fell open and she looked back at her son, “Son! I am not nosey, I just like to make sure my subjects are happy!”

Everyone laughed harder, as we did I realized this was the first time I’d seen Sheena without a dress or some other kind of outfit on. This was the first time I’d seen her glyph mark, I couldn’t make out what it was, but it reminded me of something I would see on a member of the Sins. It was definitely some kind of Tribal Animal, “Empress Sheena, can I ask what your Glyph Mark is?”

She looked back at me then down at her own flanks, “Oh, it is in the shape of an Elephants head. An Elephant is a creature you find in the Zebra homelands. They are very smart animals, they are also very nurturing in nature and from the stories I have read they never forget.”

“Just like my wife!” The Emperor said with another chuckle, “She still brings up things I did wrong from twenty years ago.”

Sheena just shook her head, refusing to take the bait, “Anyway, when will you all be heading home?”

“I’m right here runt!” Doorstop said landing a second later next to the Emperor, Shortcake and two of the cadets landing next to him.

She shrugged, “It’s loud here and there’s a lot of Zebra’s and strange ponies I’ve only heard about but never met. Apart from that it’s better than the Stable.”

Shortcake smiled, “I wish you could stay with us Dusty, there’s so much you could teach us about the Wasteland.”

“I know, but my place is with Shadow’s friends, I should know, I’m one of them. Maybe one day you can come to Cartwheel and see us.”

“Maybe one day Stardust, but first they need to learn how things work out here.” Doorstop said.

“Back in my room, I ain’t going with ya’ll.” He said, “The Cadets need me here right now at least until they get used to working with Cutter and the Dashites here in the Kingdom that is.”

“Wait, you’re not coming back with us? What about Violet, I thought she needed you back at Frosty Summit?” I asked.

“She does, but right now things are settled down in New Pegasus and Frosty Summit is far from most ponies that would attack it like The Steel Rangers, and The Enclave won’t bother them for a while. I did send Dr. Limbis there with a letter for Violet about what happened here.”

“Ah she’s tougher than she looks Runt, don’t worry too much about her. The only thing she may have problems with is Dr. Cottage, but if I know Limbis, she’ll put him in his place.”

“Damn, that’s too bad, I was just starting to like you.” Aura said with a snicker, “I don’t think I heard one griffon crack from you this entire trip.”

“Bah, you ain’t that bad Aura, at least for a griffon. Ya’ll have a good head on your shoulders, and ya know how to make a good wise crack. I like that about you, and you aren’t a sissy like Stardust.” Doorstop said with a big smile.

“Ha! Still got it!” Doorstop said, before looking back at me and ignoring Stardust, “Shadow do you think you’d be able to get a letter to somepony for me?”

“I guess, I mean it is my job, but who do you need to get a letter to? Isn’t Dr. Limbis bringing one to Violet already?”

Doorstop got closer and whispered, “I need you to get a letter to my sister, even with Stable 97 being taken care of, I’m still a Dashite and can’t go to Stratus to talk to her.”

Still keeping his voice down, he said, “It’s not that hard, if you go to New Pegasus there’s a small building at the back of the Strip that serves as a kind of Sky-port for The Enclave. Get the letter to them and they’ll make sure it gets to my sister.”

He pulled a letter out and gave it to me. Taking it, I said, “No problem, I guess I could do that.”

He sighed and stood to his full height again, “Thanks Runt, though I can’t really pay you for doing this. I’m fresh out of caps.”

Aura looked over at us, “If you want her to do something for you Doorstop, you have to pay her. That’s how a contract works.”

Aura just rolled her eyes, “And there it is” she smirked “This whole time I just thought she was a wingless griffon that was mutated by killing joke to look like a pony. What I mean is that’s how business works. She gets paid for being a courier, some of what is paid to her also goes to Equestrian Express.”

“It’s okay, I’m sure Box Tape will understand. Doorstop has done a lot for us I can at least do this small thing for him.” I said, trying to keep Aura and Doorstop from fighting.

I shrugged, “Then how about you start calling me by my name, if you do that, I’ll call us even.”

“Hmmmm, it may be easier to just find a way to pay you in caps, but I guess I can put up with calling you Shadow.” He said with a chuckle.

“Good, well if that’s everypony we should be going,” As I said that I just realized a small problem. With Doorstop staying behind and Laser Light already heading back to New Pegasus, who was going to fly the sky carriage? Stardust’s wings had been mended by one of the Unicorn doctors, but he was told not to use them for a couple more days, Wind Thrasher’s body was still healing after her problem with the blood lust, and getting Aura to fly it wasn’t going to be easy, “Huh, how are we going to get back?”

“I could pull the Sky Carriage Shadow, but we’d have to stop more often than when Doorstop flew it.” Wind Thrasher said.

“I know, but I’d like you to rest as much as you can, same for Stardust,” My eyes fell on Aura.

She looked over at me, “Nope, I said it before, I’ll say it again, I’m not a taxi.”

I let my eyes get big and teary eyed, my bottom lip poking out a little, “Please Aura.”

She grinned, “No you can’t, my contract states that I’m a body guard. I can’t be told to pull you anywhere in a sky carriage, unless it was to save your life.”

I let my pouty face get even more sad looking as I let my ears droop back, “But, if you don’t Wind Thrasher will have to pull the Carriage and she’s still sick. Even if she can it will take us forever to get home.”

A minute passed, Aura still doing her best to ignore me. I didn’t let up, I know how to look pathetic when I want. Finally, she stomped, “Fine! But you owe me big for this Shadow.”

I smiled, “Works for me, I’ll gladly pay any price to get us home quicker.”

She grinned back and got very close to my ear whispering, “I hope you don’t mind being tied up, because you just gave me permission to do whatever I want for an entire night of my choosing,” She giggled and continued, “Be careful, sometimes it sucks when a plan backfire’s.”

Wind Thrasher grinned and walked past both stallions, “It’s girl talk, sorry.”

That made me smile as I turned to say goodbye to Sheena, the Emperor, and the rest, “Thank you for all the help, I don’t know what we would have done without you.”

The Emperor smiled, “That’s what we do here! Remember you’re always welcome back here any time.”

Sheena smiled and moved closer to hug me, “My husband is right, do come see us again when you can and good luck on finding your mother,” Then she turned toward her husband, “I thought you had something to give Shadow?”

The Emperor’s huge mustache wobbled as he said, “That’s right!” he pulled out a small whistle, “My son and Cutter both told me you wanted one of our Zap Wing whistles to keep you safe from that Envy pony. So, I made this for you the other day, been meaning to give it to you since.”

Sheena giggled and face hoofed, “That is the stallion I fell in love with, so forgetful, but also thoughtful.”

“Thank you, my love.” The Emperor said moving down to kiss his wife for a moment.

I took the whistle from him putting it in one of the pockets on my Duster, “Thank you Emperor, this will help us a lot if we run into Envy again while we’re heading back home.”

I hugged him then Sheena one more time, “I’ll miss this place, I almost feel like I’m home when I’m here.”

“That is normal for most ponies that come to the Kingdom, but I am glad you enjoyed your stay. Safe travels Shadow,” Sheena started to say then she looked past me at Yaksha who was getting into the Sky Carriage, “Yaksha? Why are you going with them?”

Yaksha looked back at Sheena, “I told you last night that I was heading out. Did I not make myself clear?”

“No, I thought you meant you were heading back to the Ruins.” Sheena said, sounding hurt.

“No, my work there is complete, I need to head back to New Pegasus to look into something else, though I will return once I am finished there.” Yaksha said with a smile.

Yaksha walked back out of the Sky Carriage and hugged Sheena, “I will as well Empress. Oh, I almost forgot, if my friend comes looking for me, can you tell him where I went? He’ll know where to find me in New Pegasus.”

“You mean that ghoulish looking stallion? I guess I can do that.” Sheena said sounding confused.

“Thank you, also make sure to keep that husband of yours in check. If it was not for you, this place would not be as wonderful as it is.” Yaksha said with an even bigger smile.”

“Enough with the long goodbye’s, can we get going already?” Aura said, she was already strapped into the harness for the Carriage.

We all headed back to the Carriage and loaded up. Aura took to the air, as she flew higher we all waved goodbye to the Kingdom and our friends that were staying behind. Then Aura turned and started heading south west, as she did I got one good look to the north, where the Twin Cities were just visible in the distance and just past that, the same bright pillar of light that I saw before when I was in Mill City Tower. When I saw it before my memories were still blocked so I had no idea what it was. Now as my eyes fell on the light reaching up into the clouds it finally hit me. It was home, my old home, the place where I was born, the place where my family used to be. As we flew away and the light faded into the distance, I wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to my first home, The Crystal Empire. Instead I put a hoof on the glass of the rear window and whispered, “Goodbye.”

A couple hours passed and we were still flying fast toward New Pegasus. The temperature started to get warmer the further we got from the Midwest, at first, I missed the nice cool air, but I had to admit, I missed the warmer weather down south. Though it still wasn’t even close to how warm it would get when we got back home.

Stardust and Wind Thrasher were both talking to each other about different things that I didn’t care to listen to. Wingnut was talking with Yaksha, asking her about how some Zebra concoctions worked. From the sound of it, Yaksha was very good at making many different kinds of potions that could ether help or hurt a pony. Wingnut being the type of pony who soaked up information like a sponge does with water, never stopped with his string of questions. Yaksha didn’t seem to mind it either, in fact she sounded like she wanted to tell him as much as she could about her culture.

I of course was bored to tears, Aura wasn’t up for talking while she was flying this fast, I couldn’t get a word in between Wind Thrasher and Stardust and I didn’t even understand half of what Yaksha and Wingnut were talking about. So, I pulled the box of Memory Orbs mom gave me from my saddle bags and opened it. The last one in the row was the one mom said was very long. So far, I’d been putting off watching it because I never could seem to fit in enough time. Even now it may not be safe to jump into the orb. Envy could attack us again at any moment or something worse could happen, but if I didn’t do it now, then when would I?

“Hey Aura, do you think I’ll be safe to jump into mom’s last memory orb?”

She looked back over her shoulder at me, the window in the front had holes in it so the flyer could talk to the ponies in the carriage, “You should be fine, even if something happens, you can trust us to keep you safe.”

“Okay, I don’t know how long this will take so if we get home before I’m out, please don’t do anything embarrassing to me.”

Rolling my eyes, I sat back on the front seat and concentrated my magic on the last of mom’s memory orbs. The one she said had belonged to one of the Children of the Night. With my luck it would be another Night Stalker one, that pony had too many memory orbs for a captain who ran a secret group of assassins. It took a minute for me to make the connection, then there was a spark and the world melted away…

Well, defiantly not a Night Stalker orb. The question is, what kind of creature am I in? Let’s see, wings, that’s not hard to miss but they are bigger than the ones I’ve felt on most pegasi. I could feel something strange on my front hooves, no they aren’t hooves, their talons. Now I could tell that my host had a beak as well and a long tail with paws. Holy shit I’m in a griffon, not just any griffon this has to be Greta. She was standing in a large room looking at a set of pegasi power armor. Next to her was none other than Night Stalker himself who was talking with Minuette and Amethyst Star.

“What I don’t understand Min, is how this armor is any different than my last set.” Night Stalker said as he looked over the black suit.

“I agree, apart from a few more gems and the style of the helmet and tail stinger, it looks the same.” My host said.

Minuette looked horrified, “What do you mean it looks the same, this is a master piece Sir! I’ve spent the past two months developing this new suit for you captain. I’ve re-done the blades on your wings so they won’t interfere with your flight, also you won’t have to worry about cutting yourself if you’re doing some kind of complicated maneuver or attack. The stinger on the tail can be used to either poison like before or you can pump a high dose of magical energy into them turning your target into dust in seconds. I’ve added more gems to the armor as well, before the only spell you had was one that blocked small caliber ammunition. Now I’ve made that gem more powerful so it can now divert high caliber as well. I’ve added a gem that also will work like a stealth buck, I used the notes we obtained from the M.A.S. so that the gem will recharge itself. The effect of your invisibility will last for only two minutes, but it’s still useful. I’ve also added my own spell; the one Stable Tec uses for the Stable Tec Targeting Spell on the Pip-Buck.”

Night Stalker Smiled, “I guess that can be useful, but the armor already has S.A.T.S. and E.F.S. so what use is having an extra gem spell in the armor going to help?”

Amethyst Star spoke up this time, “You don’t understand Captain, Min modified her original spell. Unlike with S.A.T.S. you’ll be able to move while the spell is active. It will change your perception of time for around thirty seconds giving you time to either escape from just about anything or use it to get in close for a quick deadly attack. To the pony your fighting it will seem as if you just vanished from sight.”

My hosts eyes widened a little as she smiled, “Well that could be a useful trick. Though with all that extra gear wouldn’t his armor be heavier, not easy to fly in heavy armor.”

Minuette giggled joyfully, “You would think so silly, but no. The armor is a new design, it’s lighter weight and three times stronger. The Captain will be able to move faster than he did in his old set of armor.”

“I take it back, I think I like this new set of armor,” Night Stalker said slowly walking around the armor, “You finished it just in time for the assault on Crimson Canyon too, good work Min.”

“Uh, I’m sorry Captain, I’m not quite finished with it. I’m still finishing up with the last of the spell matrix for the targeting system and how the helmet will interact with the armor itself.” Minuette said, looking sheepish.

Night Stalker didn’t look as happy as he did a moment ago, “That’s too bad, how long will it take you to finish up?”

“Hmmm, well if you don’t need me for the assault then I can finish it in the next hour or so. You could also wait to start the assault though I won’t be able to test everything on the suit until tomorrow.”

Night Stalker laughed, “It’s fine Min, we’ll have help from the Shadowbolts and the royal guard for this attack. You can take all the time you need.”

My host and Night Stalker left the room as the two unicorns started working again on the Power Armor. I could now see that they were in the Lucky Horseshoe like before, as they walked to one of the large windows that over looked the city Greta asked, “I’m surprised you were able to get help from both the Shadowbolts and The Royal guard for this. How are we going to keep the group secret with so many ponies around during a fight like this?”

“I’ve already thought about that,” Night Stalker said as he watched the ponies far below, “To most of Equestria I’m just a guard captain overseeing things in the city. The rest of you have your own covers, that’s why I’m only letting a few of the Children join in on the fight.”

My host chuckled, “It won’t be much of a surprise if I’m with you since I’m always with you, but how will you explain the others?”

“Thunderlane is thought to be part of the guard like myself, at first I wasn’t sure what to do with Lightning Dust, but then I figured since she’s a former Wonderbolt I could say she joined up with the guard as well. I’m also having trouble figuring where to put Cloudy Nights, she’s an active scout for the army now at least on paper.”

“She used to be a Shadowbolt, we could just say that Rainbow asked for her help for this assault.”

“You still didn’t tell me how you got both the guard and Shadowbolts to help.”

Night Stalker looked thoughtful as he said, “Hmmmm, you can eat a lot when you want too, but I don’t think you can handle as much as a parasprite can.”

“I’ll let you know when he shows up. You’re in too good of a mood to be the Captain I know. What’s got you so chipper?”

“I guess, but it’s not normal for you at least not as of late. Maybe Lightning Dust is having a good impact on you.” I noticed as she said this, the smile she gave felt forced.

Night Stalker didn’t seem to notice, “Maybe, I know I’ve been feeling a lot happier ever since she agreed to marry me.”

Night Stalker must have picked up on the tone of her voice because he looked over at Greta, “But you don’t approve?”

My host sighed, “It’s not that I don’t like her, she’s great and I’m glad she makes you happy. It’s just that I thought you had feelings for another pony that’s all.”

“I do or did, it’s just that I realized that how I feel about her doesn’t matter. What I want I can’t have, for a long time I didn’t think I’d ever find a pony who understood me the way she does, then I had Lightning join us. She knew me before I was ‘The Captain’ and it’s nice to have that. She understands me almost as much as you do my old friend.”

My host forced another smile, “Yeah, I get where you’re coming from. I just want to make sure you don’t do something you’ll regret later, that’s all.”

“I assure you, I’m not, though I did want to ask you something regarding the wedding.”

“Most Stallions have a best Stallion when they get married, normally it’s somepony they’ve been friends with for a long time. I don’t have anypony like that, not since Big Mac…you know.”

“Yeah, well I know you’re not a Stallion but would you be my Best Griff instead? With you by myside I know the day will be perfect. There’s no pony or griffon else I’d like to have with me.”

“Because you’re my best friend, hell your almost like a sister to me. You’ve been there for me ever since I was a scared little colt.”

My host smiled as she thought back on an old memory, “I can still remember that day I found you half frozen in the mountains.”

Night Stalker laughed, “I think I almost gave Granny a heart attack when I woke up two days later screaming my head off.”

Right then Thunderlane walked in from another hallway, “Captain, it’s almost time to head out.”

The black pegasus rolled his eyes, “Lightning Dust’s still getting dressed, but the others are ready to go. Bab’s is still trying to convince me to talk you into letting her go as well.”

Night Stalker sighed, “I’ve already told her that I need her here to keep an eye on Noire.”

“I’ve told her that three times, I just think she wants to test out that new model of power armor she got from her Cousin.”

My host chuckled, “That sounds about right, she’s been practicing with it every chance she gets in the training room.”

Thunderlane looked over at Greta with a board expression, “Oh yeah, There’s a call for you griffon.”

“I have a name Jack Ass!” Greta said as she walked past the black pegasi, “I’ll go see who’s calling then I’ll join you on the roof Captain.”

Night Stalker watched her go saying, “It’s probably Granny calling again, tell her I said hi.”

As my host walked away I heard Night Stalker say to Thunderlane, “Thunderlane, I know how you feel about Griffons and their place in this war, but could you stop treating Greta like that? She’s a member of this team as much as you are.”

Thunderlane’s response was hard to make out as Greta walked into a small library. There was a few comfy looking chairs and a phone, also the former Prince who now went by Noire was sitting in one of the chairs reading an old looking book with what looked like stars on the cover. He looked up from his book, he still looked gaunt, but at least his mane was cut short again, it looked better than it did when it was long, “Good Day Greta, what brings you by the library?”

“Just a phone call, how’s the research going?” my host asked as she sat down next to the table with the phone on it.

“It is slow work and I feel like I am doing something wrong by reading these old books written by The Starkatteri. I now understand why the rest of my people shun them.” He said going back to his work.

He chuckled and went back to reading. As he did Greta picked up the phone, “Hello this is Greta.”

A cute voice echoed out of the receiver, “Hey Greta! It’s so good to hear your voice!”

“Prickly Petal? This is a surprise, why are you calling me and not your brother?”

“Oh, I’m sure he’s busy doing something top secret and dangerous as usual.” Petal said with a mock sigh.

My host Laughed, “Not right now, unless you count giving Thunderlane a hard time as dangerous, so what’s up?”

“You know how Moony’s planning on spending the day with me later this week?”

“Yep, I mean I’ve been living near Las Pegasus for a while now, but I’ve been too busy with Stable 28’s construction and the other project to go sight-seeing. Both projects are keeping me running from all over the place, and I have to keep checking up on Halo One and Two as well.”

“Doesn’t Stable-Tec have other supervisors that can take care of some of the work load?” Greta asked.

“They do, but Applebloom only trusts me with both Halo sites and the secret Project she’s working on with you guys.”

“Because I wanted too! It’s one of the biggest stable’s we’ve done so far and with the idea’s Scootaloo’s having for it, I couldn’t just pass up it up.”

“Understandable, anyway what were you going to say about your time here in the city?”

“Oh yeah, Well I was able to finish up with a few things faster than I thought, so I decided to start my vacation early. I’m at The Applewood right now! I was wondering if you could help me surprise Moony.”

My host smiled, “True, but sadly today isn’t the best day for me to drag him away from work. We have…something to do today.”

“Well how about this, if you two are freed up tonight then we can surprise him, if not then we’ll make it tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, I know, but I can’t talk much longer I have to get ready. Did you need my help with anything else?”

“No, I’ll be fine, I have to make a quick call to Sweetie Belle anyway. She’s doing a show here next week and I want to see if she’ll let me watch from back stage.”

Petal giggled on the other end, “Hope to see you tonight. OH! I’m in room 2077 if you need to call me back. Be safe out there Greta!”

“You do know that springing a surprise on Night Stalker isn’t a good idea.” Noire said.

“With most ponies yes, but if anypony can get away with it, it’s Petal. Also you didn’t hear a thing about this got it!”

Greta got to her talons, stretched then walked out of the room. She turned down the hall and made her way over to an elevator, she was joined by Lightning Dust before the door closed, “Hey I’m not the only one running late, that’s good to know.”

My host smiled as she pushed the button for the top floor, “I think you’re just in time Lightning.”

“I guess there’s a first time for everything.” She said with a cute giggle.

The two of them rode the elevator the rest of the way up in silence. A moment later they walked into the huge bright room that I’d been in once before. It was where Mr. Top’s lived, or at least the huge monitor his face showed up on. The two of them made their way over to where Night Stalker was waiting with Thunderlane and Cloudy Nights. I remembered then that Cloudy Nights used to be Pink Rose, the young mare who ran away from home to be with her buck friend. She was older than I thought, she wasn’t old but she was older than Night Stalker, how many years ago did she leave home? She was cute though, with her light pink coat and shocking green mane and tail, her mane even had a long streak of red in it. Her eyes matched her mane and they seemed to sparkle with energy and life. I could see why the stallion she left home for, fell for her. It’s funny how her journal was the first thing I found when I first left Stable 28, I wish I could find out how she ended up going from that shack to working with The Children.

Night Stalker looked over at Greta and Lightning Dust as they approached, “Perfect, now that we are all here let’s go over the plan before we head out.”

Thunderlane rolled his eyes, “Captain what’s to go over, we strike fast and hard. Our intel says there’s only about two hundred Zebra’s in the canyon. Hell, with the whole team we could take them down without much effort.”

“Thunderlane, don’t underestimate our enemy. From what we know, there’s a high-ranking zebra with them. Noire believes it’s one of his brothers, if so, that means the zebras with him are elite. That’s why we called in the Guard and the Shadowbolts.” Night Stalker said.

“You put too much trust in that stripe. For all we know this could be a trap.” Thunderlane said.

“I put as much trust into him as I do the rest of you. Noire made me a blood oath, since then he has done everything in his power to help us with finding this threat and his knowledge of old zebra lore has been a great help with Falling Shadows.”

Thunderlane turned red as he yelled, “He’s the ENEMIES SON! What’s wrong with you Night Stalker!? Have you lost your fucking mind!”

Night Stalker didn’t yell back, he slowly walked closer to Thunderlane until his nose was a hairs breath from the other pegasus, “You should remember your place Thunderlane and you should also remember that I was the one who requested you to join the Children. If it wasn’t for me and the lies I told, you’d have been court marshaled for what you did when you were my commanding officer. You owe me everything Thunderlane that goes for your trust in my actions, or have I not proven myself to you yet?”

For a long moment the two just stared at each other, then finally Thunderlane broke and he looked away, “Sorry sir, it won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.” Night Stalker said before turning to address the rest of his team, “This is what we are going to do. Our objective is to fly in and take down the sentries guarding the Canyon. We expect them to be wearing stealth cloaks so make sure you all have your thermal goggles. The kills need to be made quickly and silently, if we give away our positions too quickly the rest of the guard will be in danger. The Shadowbolts are acting as our back up and our eye in the sky while we’re attacking the sentries. They will only join in the fight once the rest of the guard is in the canyon.”

“For us we can fly right in, but on the ground there’s only two ways in. The Guard will be moving in from both points on the east and west of Crimson Canyon. This way none of the Zebras can escape once the attack has started.”

My host stepped forward, “This mission needs to be quick and clean, it’s bad enough we’ve let these Zebras slip past us as long as they have. Right now, they are too close to Las Pegasus. We can’t let it get out that a huge number of them made it so far into Equestria.”

“We won’t let you down.” Cloudy Nights said with a big smile, “We’ll show them why you don’t mess with The Children of the Night or Princess Luna.”

Night Stalker smiled, “This is how we’ll go in, Thunderlane you’ll be with Lightning, you two will take down the sentries from the west. Make sure none are left alive. Cloudy Nights, I need you to take the north and if you finish the sentries there, then join Lightning and Thunderlane. Greta and I will take the east and south. Radio in once you’ve taken down your targets.”

“Good now let’s move out!” Night Stalker said walking over to the door that led to a small balcony that faced away from The Strip. Waiting for him was his other set of Power Armor, he stepped into it letting it close around his body.

Everyone followed as he jumped into the air, leading his team south west. As they flew Greta pulled on a helmet with goggles then pushing a button on the side she said, “Team one go ahead and get to your post, Cloudy Night’s you do the same, don’t worry about waiting for us, Strike as soon as you can.”

The three other pegasi nodded, they flew past Night Stalker and Greta as the land zoomed by under them. When they were further ahead My host moved closer to her friend then said over the wind, “You ready for this?”

As they flew I could see the cliffs of Crimson Canyon getting closer. It was strange to think that Aura’s home used to be a place where Zebra’s held up. I guess it made sense since it was easy to defend…at least for griffons. I wonder how Zebra’s would do with an assault like this coming.

As they drew closer to the canyon Night Stalker started to fly higher, my host following close to his side. As they went up Night Stalker tapped a gem on his armor then said, “Commander Blaze this is Night Stalker. Are your Pegasi in place?”

I could hear his voice through the radio in Greta’s helmet and the reply from a mare, “Captain we are in place and waiting for your signal. We are just above the clouds.”

“Only a couple of stripes guarding the boarders. We think they’re using the caves to stay out of sight. Crimson Canyon is full of caves and tunnels.” The mare responded.

“Good, let my team take out the sentries first then I’ll have the Guard move in, you’re pegasi will follow them.” Night Stalker said.

They both cut off their radio’s then Night Stalker said, “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“They don’t have any way of knowing we’re coming. The Pegasi should have seen at least a few of them wandering around the Canyon, not just the sentries on the edges.”

“Hmmmm, maybe, but be ready for anything.” Night Stalker said as he looked down, “We should be in position, I’ll drop first and get the two zebras on the left of the entrance, you take care of the three on the other side.”

My host looked down, I could see five Zebra’s standing at the top of the cliffs that overlooked the valley near a small town just outside the east entrance to the Canyon, “Roger.”

“Good, fall on them fast and quietly. Let me know when they’re down, Night Stalker out.”

“I hate it when you call me that.” he said with a sigh, “Let’s get this over with.”

My host chuckled to herself as Night Stalker folded his wings and started to dive. Greta reached behind herself and pulled out two oddly shaped swords. Funny one of them looked just like the one I had. Then she too folded her wings following Night Stalker as he silently dove for the zebra’s. Night Stalker started to slowly open his wings as they drew closer, I could see slightly blue glowing blades at the edges of his wings much like the ones around Greta’s swords. Before I could take a better look at them, my host flipped around letting her rear paws slam into the first zebra. His body crunched under her, I could feel bones breaking as he cushioned her fall. He started to scream, but one of Greta’s swords slide neatly into his skull. The Zebra closest to them looked at Greta with his jaw open in shock.

The expression only lasted a moment, then it changed to confusion as Greta’s other sword sliced open his neck. As his body started to fall, my host flapped her wings again as she darted for the last sentry who was still turning toward the sound of the fallen zebras. He took a sword threw the eye before he could finish his turn. The attack only lasted maybe five seconds, that was all and she took down all three zebras in that small margin time. I’m glad I wouldn’t ever have to fight a griffon like her…oh wait, Aura’s family is descended from Greta. That meant Gina was too…fuck! If she was even half as good as her great something grandmother, I was in trouble if I ever had to deal with her again.

Greta looked over the gap in the cliff to where Night Stalker was standing next to two headless zebras. He chuckled lightly, “I thought you would have finished them off quicker, you’re not losing your touch are you, old friend?”

“Pfft, I had to deal with three, you only had two, who’s getting old now smart ass?”

Night Stalker just chuckled again as the rest of his team reported in, “Team one’s targets are down Sir.” I heard Lightning say, “Mine too.” Responded Cloudy Nights.

“Good, all of you wait for my signal, Greta and I will sneak down and see if we can spot anymore sentries.” Night Stalker said.

The two of them jumped down and slowly glided to the canyon floor. It was odd to see the place so barren. It seemed like such a sad place without the tents and griffons around. There were still the two large rocks in the middle of the Canyon, but they were boring since neither of them had been carved into the statue or the wall of Red Talon laws yet.

“Yes, it is.” Night Stalker said as he walked toward the center of the Canyon, “It looks like somepony was here not too long ago, but the place feels abandoned.”

My host stopped and looked back, “What?” She flew back to him then whispered, “Don’t yell like that Captain, you’ll wake up any Zebra’s that might be near.”

Night Stalker looked scared as he pointed at the larger rock, “It was a trick!”

“What are you talking about…” Greta said as she turned to see what Night Stalker was looking at. Then my host’s eyes went wide as she saw it, a mare’s body was staked to the larger rock. Her eyes had been cut out, her tongue as well, her hooves had a stake stabbed through them holding her to the sandstone behind her. Carved into her naked torso was a single word ‘Almost!’ a small dagger was stuck at the bottom of the exclamation point.

“Yeah, it’s Magnolia, she’s the mare who sings in the night club at the Lucky Horseshoe…FUCK!” Night Stalker slammed his hooves on the button for his radio, “It was a trap, the sentries were just bait. The Zebra’s already left, they may be heading for…”

Before he could finish Minuette appeared in front of Night Stalker. She was breathing hard, “Sir, The Zebras are attacking Las Pegasus! There’s at least four hundred of them!”

“Damn it! How did they know!” He yelled before going back to his radio, “Everypony head back to Las Pegasus NOW it’s under attack!”

A few voices echoed through the radio as they all responded. Greta started to speak, “We have to head back right now.”

“Good, Teleport back right now and get it ready, I’ll be their shortly. Tell the rest of the team to attack and defend the city as best as they can. Bab’s is in charge until I get back.”

“Yes sir, oh and what should I do about Noire? He wanted to help, but I told him to stay back.”

“We could use him right now, but I’m not sure if he’s the one who got the message to the rest about our plan. For now, have him wait until I say otherwise.”

“Let’s go!” Night Stalker said as he jumped into the air right as over a hundred pegasi came flying out of the clouds, all heading for Las Pegasus.

Greta followed saying, “Boss, why didn’t you have Minuette teleport us back as well?”

“We’re going to need her magic for this fight, I don’t want her tired out just so we can get back faster.”

“Understood,” Greta started to say then her eyes went wide, “Oh shit…”

They just caught up with the rest of the Pegasi when Night Stalker asked, “What?”

“What? No, she’s not, she’s not coming to the city for another three days.”

“No, she’s there now, she’s the one that called earlier. She wanted to surprise you.”

“FUCK can this day get any worse!” Night Stalker yelled, he tapped a different gem on his helmet and spoke urgently, “Amethyst Star activate the Lucky Horseshoe’s defenses, get those damned robots into the streets to stop the Zebra’s. Also send Comet Tail to the Applewood and have her get my sister and bring her to the tower!”

Night Stalker did then he tapped the gem again and started to fly faster. As they all flew on, an orange glow started to show near Las Pegasus. The closer they got the more the glow brightened. The city was on fire, “Damn it!”

“They’ll pay, every last one!” Night Stalker yelled as he flew higher toward the Lucky Horseshoe, “Everypony attack, make sure you keep as many ponies in the city safe and for Celestia’s sake, don’t let the stripes get the drop on you!”

As they reached the edge of the city, the Ponies from the Shadowbolts scattered. Magical Energy and plasma rifles started to fire down toward the Strip as scores of wings dove for the advancing zebras. Greta flew up to the top of the Lucky Horseshoe with Night Stalker. Thunderlane, Lightning Dust, and Cloudy Nights joined them a moment later all of them looking down at the fight that was happening far below.

“I want all of you to do whatever it takes to defend the city, kill as many of the stripes as you can.” Night Stalker said as he turned toward a small door that was set toward the middle of the Lucky Horseshoe just under the tall spire.

“I’ll join you momentarily, now move out!” he said as the rest of his team came running out the door.

Cloudy Nights and Thunderlane took off, Lightning ran over to Night Stalker and kissed him for a moment then said, “Stay safe.”

My host looked away for a moment as they kissed as Night Stalker said, “You too, now go.”

She flew off, her twin battle saddles firing as she dove for the ground. Once she was gone Minuette came through the door floating two sets of power armor behind her, Amethyst Star close behind dressed in black combat armor. When Minuette finally pushed past the rest of the team she said, “Sorry it took me so long boss, but it’s ready.”

“Good Job Minuette. Do you think you’ll be able to help in the fight?” Night Stalker asked.

My host looked at the second set of power armor, I could tell now that it was bigger than Night Stalkers, but was just as black and menacing, “Min, what’s that?”

Amethyst Star answered, “It’s griffon Power Armor, Rainbow Dash said it’s something new the griffons are using during some of the bigger fights. She got this for you and I just finished doing my own touch ups.”

Greta looked it over, “It doesn’t protect as much as Night Stalkers does, it also looks like it would slow me down.”

“It won’t, it’s light weight at least for a griffon, and it’s flexible enough to handle the kind of flying and fighting you do. It will still protect you better than your combat armor does.” Amethyst Star said with a small blush.

“Just use it Greta, I don’t plan on losing any of you today.” Night Stalker said before turning to another pony in Power Armor, “Babs, you wanted to test out that new suit, well here’s your chance. I want you to go help protect The Strip, use your heavy guns to keep the advancing zebra’s from getting further into the city.”

“Yes SIR!” Bab’s said from inside the armor, then she ran toward the edge of the tower and jumped off yelling, “Look out below!”

Is she crazy! How well can power armor protect you from a fall like that? I heard a loud boom from Bab’s landing in the street far below, followed by the sound of a mini gun going off. I guess she’s okay.

Noire stomped his hoof, “I swore to you that I will serve you, I can help!” he fell to the ground as the collar around his neck shocked him. He screamed for only a moment then laid there breathing hard.

“You really need to learn to watch that temper.” He turned back to Amethyst Star, “Change of plans, you keep an eye on him while Minuette goes and helps the rest of us.”

My host in the meantime moved over to the Griffon Power armor and after opening it with a gem on the back she stepped into it. It closed smoothly around her. The armor fit like a glove, covering her chest, neck and head. The armor also moved to cover a good amount of her torso, her wings were mostly covered save for her feathers, around her tail, and the top of her talons. Her beak was left uncovered, her eyes were shielded by a blood red visor. She pulled out her swords and smiled, “Okay, this isn’t as bad as I thought.”

Night Stalker just stepped out of his older set and into the new one, “Trust me, it’s a wonderful feeling. Now let’s show these zebra’s why you don’t mess with The Children of the Night!”

“I’ll go see about helping Comet Tail, I’ll make sure she can get Petal to safety, then I’ll regroup with you.” Greta said as she opened her wings.

“Good idea, I’m going to see if I can find the general who’s leading the Zebras.” Night Stalker said as he snapped his wings open. The blue glowing swords shimmering at the edge of his wing arms.

“Try not to kill him if you can, the M.O.M. will want him alive.” Minuette said.

Night Stalker looked back at her, “Fuck Pinkie Pie and what she wants. This is my city.” He tapped one of the many gems on his armor and in a flash of blue light he vanished, just like the Stranger.

Minuette beamed again, “Hey it worked! I wasn’t sure it would on it’s first test run.”

“Min, are you sure that new armor will keep the Captain safe.” My host asked before she jumped into the air.

Minuette shrugged, “Depends on how he uses it. The Captain likes to get in close for his kills, that’s why I put as much protection magic as I could on the suit. The problem is he’s more of a stealth killer, if he goes rushing a better fighter than him, he may not do as well. That armor can only protect him so much.”

“You underestimate him, he’s been training with Zaphan…I mean Noire for two months now. He’s grown as a hoof to hoof fighter.”

Greta laughed and took off yelling down at Minuette, “Yeah, maybe in a fair fight, but Night Stalker doesn’t fight fair.”

Minuette smiled again then in a flash she was gone. In the corner of my hosts eyes I saw the blue unicorn reappear on the street using her magic to help Bab’s fight off fifteen zebras who were trying to push past the power armored mare. Then my host turned in flight and headed straight for The Applewood. She didn’t get far before she saw three zebras killing a group of ponies who’d gotten stuck in a dead-end alley way. She dove for them, her blades cutting neatly through the air as she dropped onto them. As she landed her blades decapitated one, sending his head arching toward the fleeing ponies. Her other blade slid half way through the second zebra’s head before coming to a halt.

Greta spun around lifting the already dead zebra off the ground and hurling his body toward the last zebra who was just turning to see what just happened. The dead zebra’s body flew off the end of Greta’s sword and slammed into the last zebra. He cried out in pain for only a moment as his body crunched against the far wall, my host put an end to that by stabbing him in the heart. Then something tinged off her armor. She turned and saw five more zebras running toward her from across the street.

“Oh Shit,” Greta said backing down the alley, doing her best to avoid the shots the zebras were firing. Then it seemed as if her suit acted on its own. The power armor made a strange sound as something poked out from its back. As it did a small marker showed up on her visor. She used it to aim then fired what sounded like a rifle on her back. The closest one to her fell and went rolling across the ground, his head blown clean off his shoulders. A second shot rang out as Greta fired a round into the next pony, who flew back into a third.

The fourth pony stopped the hurled something toward her. It was a shiny grenade with a blue band around it. It as a spark grenade, they knew the ponies…griffons…whatever, here had power armor and they came prepared. Greta jumped back again, but I could tell that it wouldn’t be fast enough. As the grenade was about to land next to Greta, another pegasus in combat armor came flying in, kicking the grenade flying harmlessly back the way it came. It went off, not hurting the zebras but also it was out of range of Greta.

The mare who just saved my host pulled a rifle off her back and fired twice. Both the Zebra’s fell with chunks of their heads missing. Greta laughed then said, “Good timing Comet Tail,”

The mare turned and winked, “Lucky I was flying over you when I saw them attacking.”

“I was hoping you’d know, she wasn’t in the room. I was about to see if she came running out here when the Zebra’s attacked, but I haven’t seen her yet.” Comet Tail said looking past her at the few remaining ponies who looked terrified.

“Fuck, we have to find her,” Greta looked back at the ponies, “Any of you see a green pegasus with a pink mane by chance?”

Greta swore again, “Fuck. Well you all should head to the north west exit for The Strip, so far, it’s clear that way. As soon as you’re clear of the city try and find a safe place to hide until this is over.”

They all ran past the two, then Comet Tail said, “The other’s need our help, let’s try and clean up the zebras around here for now, that way we can look for Petal. If we still can’t find her, then we’ll regroup with the Captain.”

“Good idea, I just hope she thought to run to the Lucky Horseshoe. She knows she’ll be safe there, she did help build it.” Greta said before they both flew into the air.

For the next couple of hours, I watched as Greta fought beside Comet Tail and a couple of the Shadowbolts as they did whatever they could to fight back the Zebras who were trying to take the city. Even in the power armor Greta moved unlike any griffon or pony I’d ever seen fight. She’d dart right at an enemy, ignoring the raised rifle or battle saddle and take them down without even getting shot. Her twin swords danced through the air like they were just an extension of her talons. Every time she twisted around, blood followed.

As the battle went on, I caught sight of every one of the Children fighting. I now understood why Night Stalker chose them. Thunderlane had to be one of the fastest ponies I’ve ever seen fight. He didn’t fly as fast as Night Stalker or Stardust could, but his attacks were spot on and quick. He could take out an enemy and be onto another fight before the zebra’s body even hit the ground. He reloaded so fast that it was just a blur, and that was just with his rifle. His battle saddle barked with each pass he made as he flew over the zebras, none of them lived long enough to warn their comrades about the black pegasus.

Minuette wasn’t just great at making new kinds of spells that could help her team, like with the gems she put into Night Stalker’s armor. No, she knows how to use her magic to kill just as well. She darted around the zebras as they tried to get close to finish her off, only to have the blue unicorn lightly dart around them then fire a small focused beam of magic at them. The beam of light was no bigger than a pencil, but when it shot through a zebra’s chest, head or back, they didn’t get back up to fight again.

Cloudy Nights fought like Stardust, her hoof to hoof combat style was quick and light, but each blow was perfectly placed to take her enemies down, on top of that she was a great markspony. She only carried a pistol in her muzzle as she fought, but that too was just as accurate as her blows.

Then I caught sight of Night Stalker himself, he moved like a demon. His attacks so fast they were a blur, his shimmering swords cut down a zebra before he knew what hit him. His plasma rifles on his battle saddle melted zebras right and left. When he could kill a zebra with his rifles or with his wing swords, he would simply twist around them and apple buck them as hard as he could. With his size and the strength his armor gave him, his kicks were so powerful, the zebras were dead before they hit the ground.

Finally, when the battle seemed like it was going to go bad for the city of Las Pegasus, the royal guard finally caught up. As soon as they entered the city, Zebra’s started to go down in waves. Dozens of ponies in power armor blew through the lines of zebras making room for the rest of the small army of ponies. Blood filled the streets now and piles of corpses littered the streets as the zebra’s moral started to break. It was then that the voice of Comet Tail spoke into the radio built in to Greta’s helmet, “I found Petal, she’s on the north side, she was trying to flee with some of the other civilians.”

“I’m on my way, do whatever you can to keep her and the ponies she’s with safe.” Greta said as she opened her wings and took off.

My host turned and flew toward where Comet Tail said she was, when something caught her eye. She looked down as she flew and she saw a single zebra running down an alleyway that lead right for where Comet Tail and Petal were. Something was glowing on his back as he flew toward the small group of ponies my host could just make out yelling, “FOR ROME!”

Greta picked up speed as she yelled into her radio, “Comet Tail, you have an incoming zebra coming in from your six, he’s got a bomb!”

Greta lost sight of him for a moment as she dodged around one of the taller buildings. As she flew around it, Comet Tail responded, “Don’t worry, I see…”

She was cut off as a huge explosion filled the air and a blast of fire erupted in the distance. Greta screamed, “Comet Tail!!!”

She just finished getting around the building when she saw what happened. Three smaller buildings that had been right where the ponies were, had been turned to rubble, a small crater was in the middle of the destruction and bodies littered the area around it. Greta landed hard next to the alley where she’d seen the Zebra. She took a moment to look over the damage before her eyes locked on a hunk of blackened meat from the suicidal zebra. His body had been thrown back into the far wall near her, most of his body destroyed by the blast. A few feet away Comet Tail was lying dead, her face mostly destroyed, a leg missing and her combat armor mostly torn away in the blast.

“No…no, no, no, noooo!” Greta said as she ran over to her comrade, “You damned fool, you should have gotten out of here!”

My host’s head snapped up as she looked over to see a green pegasus mare lying a few feet outside of the blast zone. She jumped back to her talons and ran over to her, “Petal…Celestia no,”

Prickly Petal was laying on the ground smiling weakly up at the griffon. Three chunks of metal scraps were lodged in her belly and one in her right foreleg, “You…look really good in that armor Greta.”

My host gingerly pulled the pegasus closer, “Don’t talk, we need to get you to a doctor.”

Petal coughed, blood cascading from her muzzle for a moment before she was able to speak again, “No, there’s no time…listen to me Greta…I need to tell you something…before I can’t anymore.”

I could feel tears welling up in my hosts eyes, “Don’t talk like that, we can still…”

“It’s too late…I’m a smart mare I know how bad this is. Before I’m gone I need you to do me a favor.”

Greta set her down and opened the power armor, stepping out she went back to Petal and pulled her into her lap, “What do you need?”

She smiled and her eyes got a faraway look in them as she spoke, “I need you to swear to me that…you’ll keep watching over Moony.”

Greta sniffed, “That’s a silly favor to ask, you know he’s my best friend.”

“I know, but after I’m gone, I’m scared he’s going to let his anger grow. He thinks he can’t be happy, not after he lost his parents, not after he was forced to come back to Equestria. We are the only family he has, he needs us. please don’t let my death push him over the edge. He’s already done to much as it is…ever since he lost Big Mac.”

Petal started to cough again, when she finished her voice sounded weaker, “I know what he’s planning with this project he’s having Stable Tec help him build. I looked over the files in his office when I went to inspect the cavern below the base. If he’s able to finish it…and it goes wrong…what he creates may be worse than this war. You have to talk him out of this foolish notion of making a new…”

She started to cough again, her body starting to go cold in Greta’s talons, “But if it works…” Greta said once Petal stopped again.

“If…if it works, I’m not sure if it will be a good thing or bad. That’s why I came to new pegasus early, I wanted to ask him to stop. I wanted to ask him to stop being the Captain.” She started to cry, “I don’t want him to hurt anymore…I want him to just be happy…to just come home and be the Moony I missed so much.”

Petal smiled again and her body relaxed in the griffons grip, “Please do. Hey Greta can I ask you something else?” Her eyes closing.

I felt my host’s body stiffen, “I love him like a brother, if that’s what you mean.”

“It’s not like it matters, he’s a pony, I’m a griffon and he’s marrying Lightning.”

“I know, but the Greta I know wouldn’t let things like that bother her. Oh well, maybe it’s too hard to think about with the war and all, shame.” She smiled again as her eyes opened, but most of the light had vanished in them, “I know that I loved him. He never saw it though, he just saw me as his little sister. But I’ve been in love with him since the day he came to live with us. He was so handsome and sad…I just wanted to…”

She lost the thought and I could see a bit of panic fill the young Pegasus’ face. Greta pulled her close, “Petal…I know and don’t you worry, I’ll make sure he’s okay, I’ll watch after him for you. I’ll tell him how you felt…but please you have to hold on!”

She didn’t seem to hear, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming here today Moony…I just wanted you to…come…home…big brother…please come………….”

Petal’s body shook violently for a moment, then a small whisper of air left her muzzle as her body went limp. Greta started to sob uncontrollably then she threw her head into the air and let out a scream that would make Wind Thrasher jealous. A long high-pitched note that carried across the now silent battle field. A moment later three Shadowbolts landed next to her and one pegasus in black and blue power armor.

Night Stalker slowly walked over to my host, then removing his helmet he fell in the dirt next to his dead little sister and Greta who was still holding her close, “Petal…no…please no.”

Greta chocked back a sob then said, “She tried to get away…Comet Tail found her and the others here and was protecting them, a suicide bomber took them out before I could reach them.”

Night Stalker pulled the dead mare into his arms, “I can’t…I can’t lose her too,”

Most of the Children of the Night showed up as Night Stalker held onto his sister. Thunderlane moved closer, “Sir…we drove them out, only a few got away. We were able to capture at least fifty of them, what do you want us to do? Should we send them over to Pinkie?”

Night Stalker slowly set his sister down, used a hoof to close her eyes, then he stood and looked over at his team, then the Shadowbolts behind them and what was left of Las Pegasus, “No.”

“Then what should we do? Luna will want to know if they are planning anything else.” Lightning said walking closer to their captain.

He looked at all of them for a long moment, then his gaze fell on my host, “You said a suicide bomber killed them, right?”

His gaze fell on the soldiers and his team again, “Kill them all, leave only five alive to give over to Pinkie, but only after Minuette goes through their memories.”

One of the Shadowbolts walked over, “Are you crazy Night Stalker? The Zebra’s we captured are prisoners of war, we can’t just kill them.”

Night Stalkers tail whipped around and stopped an inch away from the Mare’s neck, the glowing stinger sparking a little, “I’m not going to repeat myself Commander Blaze.”

He pulled his tail back and yelled, “Search the surrounding areas for any Zebras, if they have stripes they DIE, now move out!”

Every last pony apart from his team took off. Minuette started to say, “Sir, you need to calm down…”

Night Stalker interrupted her, “Minuette, don’t try and give me orders. Now I want you to go get Noire and bring him to Star Gazer Labs.”

Every one of his team’s eyes got wide as Minuette said, “We scrapped that Project months ago sir, why bring him there?”

Night Stalker looked back at his dead sister, then his eyes moved to look at the dead Comet Tail, “I want him to look at what we did there so he can tell us what we did wrong. Show him everything and see if he can help us making Falling Shadows better. We can’t let something like this happen again. We lost another one of our teammates today, and I lost my sister. We are going to put a stop to it once and for all. Now go.”

He looked over at his friend, and the anger I saw in Night Stalker’s Emerald Green eyes scared me more than anything I’d ever seen before, “Let go of me…”

“I told you not to call me that!” he yelled, “That buck is dead and gone, I’m Night Stalker now! Now do as I ordered, or else!”

Greta’s talon slowly slid off his shoulder, she looked down at the ground and said in a quiet voice, “Understood sir.”

The others did as well and they all went off to what he said. When they were gone Night Stalker looked back at Greta and his hard demeaner fell and he started to sob, “I’m sorry my friend…I’m just so angry right now.”

His sudden change in personality was so sudden I wasn’t sure what just happened, but Greta seemed to understand. She pulled Night Stalker close to her and let him cry, she didn’t say anything for a long moment. She just let her friend be a normal pony for a few minutes, she let him be the big brother who’d just lost his sister, before he had to go back to being that hard pony again. When he finally started to stop shaking my hosts eyes went wide as she said, “Boss, I didn’t see Babseed with the others.”

Night Stalker pulled away from her a look of worry on his face, “Shit, you’re right!” he pulled back on his helmet and turned on his radio as my host got back into her own power armor, “Team, locate Babs! She may be hurt.”

As the rest of the team started to respond to their Captains orders, a soft voice echoed around Night Stalker and Greta, the voice was the same one I heard when the memory of Night Stalker’s team taking down that Pegasus who betrayed Equestria to Rome, “And then there were eight….”

As I came out of the memory orb I couldn’t help but thinking that I missed something. Just like mom said in her note about the last orb, she told me to watch it carefully, but it was hard too. So much happened during that memory, from Night Stalker’s new armor, to the assault on Crimson Canyon, the fight in Las Pegasus, to the death of another one of the Children of the Night and the death of Night Stalker’s sister. At the end it seemed like something also happened to Babseed as well, but what? She couldn’t have died because from what mom said in that memory of when I was cured, she said Babs was killed by Greta.

Then I remembered that voice, it said something about “then there was eight.” When Night Stalker killed Captain Flash Sentry, the same thing happened only it said “and then there were nine.” Back when I saw the memory of when Night Stalker brought Lightning Dust to join the Children, she was the last member to join. On that day there was Night Stalker, Minuette, Amethyst Star, Thunderlane, Cloudy Nights, Comet Tail, Babseed, Phoenix Heart, Greta (Who wasn’t there but still a member). With Lightning Joining them it made ten members of the Children of the Night. Phoenix Heart was killed by Zaphan, on the same night the Captain killed Flash Sentry. When he died he said he cursed Night Stalker and his team.

If that curse was the thing killing off his The Children of the Night, then why did that voice say eight when there were still Nine since Zaphan joined them. Was it because he wasn’t a full member or was it because Night Stalker didn’t trust him? What am I missing? Then it hit me, Zaphan changed his name to Noire after he made a blood oath to help Night Stalker end the war. He wasn’t cursed like the rest of them because he joined afterwards. Night Stalker also told Minuette to take Noire to the Star Gazer labs to learn all he could about Falling Shadows, the new project they were working on. Toward the beginning of that memory Greta talked to Noire about what he learned from the old books. Noire said something about a tribe of zebras called the Starkatteri. Night Stalker wanted to use the power of the Stars for some kind of weapon to end the war. He was using Noire and his knowledge to help him finish his plans.

Mom was researching a project called Falling Shadows, I remember that from her notes. At first, she was looking into it so she could save my life, but later she ended up looking more into Star Gazer. I thought she didn’t find the right project at first, but I was wrong. She had found the right project, she just worked backwards to get to Star Gazer, because she knew the power it had could save me. She needed powerful Light magic to destroy the darkness around my heart. I always wondered why she kept working on this quest of hers even after I was safe. It’s because she knows something more about Falling Shadows, the project that succeeded Star Gazer.

Something else hit me just then too, the words Aquila said to me when I was still a filly. ‘She says she wants to use it to cure you and I’m sure she does, but I can see what is in pony’s hearts, she wants my power for more than just saving you.’ Mom wants to find Falling Shadows so she can take whatever power it has for herself, and she’s using me to fulfill her goal. She knew she missed something in that orb, because she didn’t see as many or at least the same memory orbs I had about The Children of the Night. Somehow, she knew I’d learn what she didn’t and I’d be able to put together the pieces. The question was, why does she need the Mark II? Why does she need THIS Mark II?

Stable 9 was where they were placed to keep them away from Night Stalker. Sweetie Belle had asked Apple Bloom to hide them there. Sweetie Belle must have found something out about Falling Shadows and used her Pip-Buck to lock him out of it, or at least something he needed to make it work. Then she begged her friend to hide all three. That’s why the memory orbs for Night Stalker were in that Stable as well, that way the Stable Dwellers for stable 9 would know who he was and his team. They made sure that no matter what, Night Stalker wouldn’t get his hooves on the Mark II. If Dr. Cell hadn’t attacked the Overmare and the Stable, the Mark II would still be safely hidden away.

Mom knew from the beginning that she needed it, that’s why she tricked Cookie Byte’s mom into taking it off. She learned about the Mark II before she even left home. She knew more about The Children of the Night, more than any other pony alive. That’s why she left with me and came right to New Pegasus, she needed to get her hooves on the Pip-Buck. The question is how did she know it was in Trotston? Oh fuck, that’s right, Elder Wolfsbane had gone to Stable Tec headquarters a long time ago. He must have found out about what was in Stable 9 while he was there. Mom was working with him while she was in Hidden Sands, he told her about the Mark II and the stable it was in. She must have figured one of them made it out of the stable with the ponies who escaped.

I was starting to understand what mom was doing now. I don’t know why she wants this power or who she’s working for, but it had something to do with Wolfsbane. How long has she been hiding her true intentions? Who else knew what she was doing or why? The only answer I could think of was asking Vervain. She is the only pony I know who may know what mom was trying to do. She said something to mom about her mission when she left the stable eight years ago. Vervain also used to work with Wolfsbane back in Los Alicorn, before she came back to Hidden Sands. She may be part of this too and I trusted her. She’s the one who pushed me to leave the Stable, she’s the one who made sure I went looking for mom, she’s the one who told me to get the Pip-Buck to mom.

Well I can’t do it, not until I talk to Vervain about all of this. I’m getting the truth one way or another. I’m not any pony’s puppet, not my moms, not Wolfsbane’s, not Vervain’s. I’m my own mare, this is my life and I won’t let them use me again, no matter how much I owed them my life. I’m getting the truth, and once I do and I find out what this Project Falling Shadow’s is, I’m going to destroy it. If so many ponies wanted it, and Night Stalker put so much work into building it, then I can’t let it fall into the wrong pony’s hooves.

I finally opened my eyes wondering how long I was out. It was then that I realized I was laying against Aura’s belly as she slept. We were both outside of the Sky Carriage, lying next to a mostly burnt out camp fire. Slowly I sat up and saw that every pony was asleep. I wasn’t sure where we were, but from the temperature and the land scape, I figure we have to be close to New Pegasus.

As I looked around the small camp I saw a bright blue white light in a small break in the cloud layer. It illuminated the top of the Sky Carriage and sitting on top of it was the dark outline of a pony. He was looking up at the cloudy night sky, a tuft of his dark mane flowing in the soft breeze. Then he spoke as if he was talking to nopony but himself, his voice was one I knew well, it was the Stranger, “Celestia or Luna, if you’re up there I could really use your help. I’m lost, I don’t know where I should go next. I want to tell her, but I don’t know how, I’m not even sure she’d believe me if I did. Every pony’s been lying to her for so long, so why should she believe me. Am I doing the right thing by keeping my promise to look over her and guide her to her true purpose. Is she ready to take on the role of being the new Guardian? I’ve been doing this for so very long and I’m starting to lose faith in everything because of it. I don’t want to put her through this, but what other choice to do I have?”

What was he talking about? Is he talking about me or some other pony? I moved slowly to get back to my hooves, but as I did my hoof slipped on a rock. The Stranger’s head flipped around and all I could see of him was his bright green eyes looking down at me, the embers of the dying fire shimmering off a dark face not covered by bandages. The light was poor and I still couldn’t make out his face only his eyes. A moment later his hoof came up and pulled the white bandages over his face and head once again covering himself from the world. He picked up his black desperado hat and covered the last bit of his mane that poked through the top of his bandages.

I moved closer looking up at him, “Those aren’t really bandages, it’s a mask.”

He looked down at me for a long moment before nodding then saying in a quiet voice, “That they are, makes it easier to discard if I need too. Come up here and sit with me Shadow, I’d like to have a word with you before you get back to New Pegasus.”

I sighed and used my magic to teleport myself up to him. I moved to sit next to him and watched as he went back to looking up at the clouds, “I hope I didn’t interrupt something.”

I saw him smile a little, “Not really, I just got lost in old memories is all.”

He sighed and let his gaze move from the clouds to me, “Lost loved ones and friends.”

“I’ve told you already, I’m no pony, I have no name, no face, no family, no friends, only duty. I am the Guardian, nothing more and nothing less.”

“Bull shit, you’re somepony I know or at least one I knew when I was younger. Is that why you’re hiding your identity from me?”

“I told you before Shadow, I can’t tell you who I am or let you see my face incase somepony takes that knowledge from you.”

“Or you don’t want me to know who you are because you’re scared of how I’ll react. I know it’s bullshit, all of it, there’s more to you than just a stallion who’s looking after me for Nightshade. Who were you talking about just a moment ago?”

“Stop lying to me and tell me who you are. Please, I’m so tired of being left in the dark, I want somepony to tell me the truth for once. Are you Striker?”

“Everypony from Nimbus knows who Striker is. He’s your uncle, the stallion who killed his parents and fled The Enclave. He became a rebel who did everything he could to bring down the Enclave. For years he killed scores of pegasi, even killing some of the former council ponies for Thunderhead, Neighvarro, Stratus, and Nimbus. In the end it was his undoing, he tried to go up against Neighvarro itself and died because of it.” The Stranger said.

I figured that he would say something about Striker being dead, but the way he said it made me believe he was telling the truth. That was too much detail for a quick lie, “Then why did you ask the Goddesses if you should tell ‘Her’ who you are? I know you meant me.”

“Who else could it be, you’re here right now, waiting for me to wake from a memory orb. Who else could you be talking about? Are you my dad?”

He sighed again, his hoof coming up to rest on my shoulder, “I wish I could tell you that I was, but…”

“Don’t tell me he’s dead. I remember my mom using a spell on me to make me think he was dead, she did the same to Vervain. The story I’ve heard from everypony say the same thing, he died attacking the Steel Rangers. His unit was wiped out, but I don’t think it was. You have to be him, why else would you be helping me like you are?”

He sighed again and his hoof fell slowly from my shoulder, “To answer your question, I’m not him, but as for your father’s death. No pony knows what really happened to him. He did attack the Steel Rangers and his unit was wiped out, but we never found his body. No pony was left alive to tell us what happened to him, for all we know he could either be a prisoner of The Steel Rangers, or he was dragged away and later killed by them. He could’ve lived through the attack but died later from some kind of creature. Nightshade led the search for him, they tried to find him for months, but nothing ever turned up. If he is alive, I can’t help you. Even if he is out there somewhere, he wouldn’t be the same pony you knew back then. In the last few weeks before he attacked the Rangers, he was losing his mind I think. Nightshade tried to stop him from going after you, but in the end, he failed.”

“I just want to understand why Nightshade or you care enough about me to put yourselves at risk. I don’t get it. I’m not that important, I’m just a mare.” I said looking down at my hooves.

“No, it’s not because of that. Nightshade would have still sent me to keep an eye on you even If you were the most uninteresting mare in The Wasteland. He may not show it, but he does care about what happens to you. He thinks of you as family, maybe because of his friendship with your father, I’m not sure. He wants you to be safe and happy. That’s why he made sure to clear your name so the Enclave would leave you alone.”

He shrugged, “I may owe my life to Nightshade, but that doesn’t mean I know everything he’s thinking. It could be that he wants to help you find her, or because he knows you need to finish what you started.”

The Stranger went silent for a moment, “I don’t think he wants her dead, though after what she’s done it may be unavoidable. The best thing would be for you to fix her memories, that would be the best way to bring her back.”

He chuckled again then reached under his trench coat and pulled out a leather-bound book, “This is one reason I wanted to meet with you before you went back to New Pegasus. This is one of your mother’s spell books. Nightshade said she found it in an old library. It’s full of useful spells, but most of all, it’s where your mom learned most of her memory spells. If you study it, you may find a counter spell that can fix what happened to Grim.”

I took the spell book in my magic and slowly opened it. The pages looked old and worn, but nicely preserved for how old it had to be, “How did you get your hooves on this?”

“When Grim left the Crystal Empire with you, she left a few things behind. When your father died, Nightshade made sure to get hold of all of his possessions, this was one of them. When I told him you needed to learn memory spells he said I should give you this.”

I closed the book and set it down, “It’s not a bad idea, but there’s a problem.”

“To perform a counter spell or a spell reversal, I’d have to know what spell she used to remove her memories. I may not know any memory spells, but I now a lot about them from mom. There isn’t just one kind of memory spell, she knew over fifty maybe more. There’re ways to block a memory, pull one from a pony’s head, ways to view a memory and so many more. Any of those spells could have been used to make her forget me. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Hmmmm, well I may be able to help with that,” The Stranger said, “From the reports Nightshade read, Grim was trying to use a special and hard memory spell on another unicorn. That unicorn used some kind of spell to make your mother’s magic rebound on her. From the pony who made the report, they said the spell was meant to remove the memory of a pony who was special to that pony. Since it rebounded back onto your mom, it took away her memories of you.”

“That doesn’t make sense, if that spell was used, mom wouldn’t know anything about me, she only forgot the past few years. She thinks I died, but she still knows she had a daughter.”

“I wouldn’t know, all I know is what was written in the report. Maybe she had her own kind of ward against that kind of magic.”

“You may be onto something there. When I told Vervain that mom forgot who I was, she said that shouldn’t be possible. She told me that mom placed protection spells on herself to keep other ponies from reading her memories or for removing them. She said that only mom could use memory spells on herself, if that spell rebounded, maybe those protection spells stopped the magic from wiping away everything.”

“Maybe. I’ll have to look through this book and see what I can learn from it. If I can find a spell that matches what she used, then I might be able to reverse it. That is if I can get close enough to her to use a spell like that and if I’m strong enough. Memory spells take a lot of power to cast and if you do it wrong you can end up hurting yourself.”

“I will, if I can save my mom then I’ll do that. Though I’m still not sure I can trust her.”

I sighed again, “I think she’s been using me to help finish her mission. That’s why she left the Mark II for me, and why she wanted me to search for her and find the memory orbs. Something bigger is going on and I feel like I’m stuck in the middle of it with no idea what I’m really doing.”

The Stranger reached out and patted my back a little, “Maybe she is, but it may not be as bad as you think. Don’t give up hope so quickly. Just don’t play her game, do what you think is right, that’s all that matters.”

We both sat there for a long time just watching the clouds and the small light from the moon that shone through. After some time passed I asked, “Stranger, do you have any children?”

He didn’t answer me for a long time, finally when I looked up at him, I saw tears in his eyes. He saw that I noticed and he quickly wiped them away before saying, “I did, I had a wife too.”

“I lost them, because I was too weak to save them. I was always too busy to be with them, I was always flying between Nimbus and Stratus. I always told myself that my work as The Guardian was too important to worry about others. I was a selfish stallion back then, my wife knew it too, but she still loved me and supported me. She was a good mare, so beautiful and kind, same for my foal. I wish I would have spent less time doing…this…and spent it with them. The sad part is, even after losing them both, nothing has changed for me, it’s like my life continues as normal, like I had no wife, or foal.” He said, his voice going very quiet.

“The Wasteland is everywhere, no matter what you do to keep it away, it always finds you. Even in the cloud cities I guess.”

As he spoke he pulled out a little hoof made doll shaped like a bird. When I saw it I asked, “Was that your foal’s doll?”

He pulled it close to his face and took in a deep breath and more tears fell from his eyes. After a moment he returned it to a pocket inside his coat, “Yes it was. It’s all I have left to remember them by. Even after so many years, it still smells like them, or at least I tell myself that it does.”

For the first time, I felt bad for the mysterious pony who kept his face hidden from the world. The pony who went out of his way to protect others and who lost his family keeping a secret project hidden from the world. He’d given up so much for his duty. Now I saw him for who he really was, a sad lonely stallion who hated himself for not being there when his family needed him. Was this how my father felt when mom left with me? I’m sure it was, even though I couldn’t remember his face, I did remember a lot of times when my dad read me stories, told me about his day at work, held me on the days when my sickness got bad and I couldn’t even move. We had been close, when mom took me away from him, it must have been like somepony ripped a part of his soul away.

He sniffed and dried his eyes again, “It’s not your fault and I wouldn’t say they are bad memories. I just miss them, that’s all.”

“I know, I feel the same about my dad. I just wish I could remember his face, his name, anything apart from his voice and even that’s not clear.”

The Stranger smiled again and looked over at me, “He was a good stallion, he could be hard headed at times, but still he was good.”

“Can…can you at last tell me his name? Maybe then I’ll be able to find out more about him.”

He opened his muzzle saying, “I guess you’ll find out sooner or later…his name is…” right as he was about to say my father’s name. He started to choke and a small glow of blue light escaped his muzzle instead of words. He frowned and coughed then cleared his through, “What the hell?”

“I have no idea, let me try again, his name is…” it happened again, this time The Stranger fell and coughed harder, “Why can’t I say his name? I’ve spoken of him before to others.”

I felt something creeping up my back and a moment later I heard Oricalcos’ voice whisper in my ear, “That’s a silence spell, it was another kind of magic my sister was good at. She must have run into The Stranger before and made sure he couldn’t speak your father’s name to you.”

My uncle said quickly, “I’m not sure, but I’ve seen that spell before, she used it on me as well. For some reason she wanted to make sure you couldn’t find your dad.”

I didn’t want The Stranger to know about Oricalcos so I replied “I was just thinking that I’ve seen that spell before, did you run into my mom at some point in the past, before she lost her mind?”

“Only once, she tried to attack me. She did land a blow, but the spell she used didn’t seem to do anything, at least I thought it didn’t. Are you saying that she made it so that I couldn’t speak his name to you?”

“It’s possible, she did want me to think he was dead. Maybe she wanted to make sure I couldn’t go looking for him or find out more about him. I’m not sure why though.”

“I don’t think so, not unless that spell is in this spell book. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Wait, why was mom trying to kill you if she hadn’t lost her memories yet?”

He winced a little, “Well Nightshade did send me to capture her when we found her location. This was a week or so before she lost her memories. She knew what it meant when I showed up and she tried to kill me.”

“I think the best thing to do is to find her and find out why she wanted to keep my father’s name secret.”

“I agree,” He said then he jumped to his hooves, “Shit, I just realized I’ve spent too much time here!”

“I only came down here to give you that spell book and to give you something else, Nightshade’s on his way back to Stratus right now. If I’m gone too long the ponies around him will wonder where I’m at.” He said reaching to his side and pulling out a huge case, “I wanted to make sure this got back to Stardust, he left it behind when he went after you when he was still Pride.”

I took the case with my magic and opened it, inside was Wrath’s AMR. The scope was still mostly destroyed, and I could see some of Wrath’s blood was still on it, “Why give him this?”

“Why would he leave this behind when he came after me? With this, he could have killed us easily.” I asked.

“Two reasons. One he hadn’t had time to fix the scope yet, second, he can’t fire it. The rifle has a huge kick, since he’s not a unicorn he’ll have to fire it just like any other rifle. With its recoil, if he fired it, he’d lose most of his teeth. When he was Pride he was going to install a gem that takes away most of the recoil so he could fire it, but he didn’t have the time. I figured that since he took it from Wrath, he should be the one to have it.”

I closed the case, “I guess so, but I’m not sure how he’ll feel about it now that he’s back in his right mind.”

“If he doesn’t want to keep it then that’s up to him. If he wants to sell it, he’ll still be able to get a good price for it even in the condition it’s in.”

“Thank you. Well I’m heading back. I’ll check in with you in a few days, in the meantime, stay safe,” he said opening his wings, “Oh and Shadow.”

I blushed as he chuckled, he tapped the gem on his coat and in a flash, he was gone. Fuck I just remembered I was going to ask him about that strange unicorn Hex and tell him he was trying to get his hooves on The Stranger’s revolver for some goddess’s awful reason. I guess I’ll just have to tell him next time I see him. It’s not like Hex is going to just show up in New Pegasus and attack him. Now that I thought about it, he said he was a hunter, just like Squirrel and Moose. Maybe I should visit them at The Jetblue Sky port and see if they knew anything about him.

Turning I saw she was rubbing her eyes looking up at me, “Sorry, I was just talking to The Stranger. You just missed him.”

She yawned again, “Tomorrow, right now I just want to get back to sleep. You should do the same, we have a long day tomorrow and you really need your rest.”

“I spent the past few hours in a memory orb, I don’t think I need rest.” Honestly, I felt tired, but sleep just seemed silly after being in the orb for so long.

“It’s not the same thing, you need real sleep.” She said reaching out and taking hold of my foreleg, “Doctors orders, now get over here.”

I giggled as she pulled me close and soon I found myself wrapped in her forelegs, my head resting on her chest as her wings covered me like a blanket. I didn’t think I needed sleep like she said, but as soon as my eyes closed I drifted off to sleep, the sounds of Aura humming a little tune to herself was the last thing I heard.

The next day I was awoken by Wingnut who wouldn’t stop poking me, “Don’t you ever get up before noon?”

I yawned and opened my eyes slowly, “Not unless I have too. What time is it?”

“Six in the morning, now get up, we have to head out.” He said poking me again.

“I’m up…fuck kid give a mare a moment.” I said slowly getting up. Aura must have gotten up before me, letting me sleep a little longer. She was sitting by the dead fire eating something that looked like meat from a can.

“No thanks, ponies don’t eat meat.” I said reaching into my saddle bags and pulling out some Sugar Apple Bombs.

Stardust chuckled, “That’s not true, ponies CAN eat meat, we just don’t do it much.”

Yaksha stuck her tongue out, “That is just gross, why would any pony apart from a raider eat meat?” She thought for a moment “Then again there was that one time I cooked ant meat.” She shook her head “No, ant meat and actual meat are two different things.

Wingnut looked at her with a disgusted look on his face, “You ate meat from a bug?”

“No, but if it is meat, then I do not want to know.” She said then looked over at me, “Shadow, is that all you are going to eat?”

She sighed, “That is all sugar, you cannot live off of just that. Here try something I cooked up last night.”

“Wait you have more of that strange stuff you made last night!?” Wingnut said excitedly, “I want more!”

I looked at what she pulled out of her bags. It was some kind of green and yellow plants covered in a white paste, “I think I’ll pass, that looks nasty.”

Wingnut’s jaw dropped open, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten Shadow, you really should try it.”

“The Kid’s not wrong Shadow, I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like it before. Wind Thrasher ate four helpings.” Stardust said.

Yaksha smiled happily, “I made dinner for everyone last night, sadly you were still in that memory orb when we all went to bed or I would have made sure you had some as well. Also yes Wingnut I have more and plenty for everyone, even Aura.”

“No thanks, I don’t eat that kind of thing. I don’t care how good it looks, but a griffon can’t live off of plants alone, we need meat every now and then and I haven’t had any in weeks. I need to get my strength up, I’m still recovering.” Aura said before slurping a big chunk of something out of the can.

I gagged then looked back at Yaksha, “Well if they all think it’s good I guess I’ll try it, it can’t be anywhere near as gross as that Anti-Venom Aura made.”

Ignoring her I took a helping from Yaksha, slowly I took a small bite, expecting to start gagging as soon as I tried to swallow. As soon as it touched my tongue, my eyes went wide and I took a bigger bite, “Oh my goddesses, where has this wonderful food been all my life!”

Yaksha laughed, “It is a simple recipe, I could teach you how to make it if you wish.”

“Hell yeah, if I can have food like this every day, I’d be the happiest mare on Equis.”

“Then I will make sure to add that to the lessons we will start with later today.” Yaksha said starting to eat her own meal, “This kind of meal is also very good for you.”

“Zebra recipes can help you in many different ways. That brew is an old zebra meal for increasing stamina and agility. You will have more energy for the whole day and feel less hungry later.”

Yaksha took a moment to think, “Well, I am not as skilled with potions as my mother was, but I do know how to make a potion that can heal you faster and better than a normal healing potion made by magic, I know potions that can strengthen your bones, some that will enhance your sight, and a few more. I also know a lot of regular food recipes as well.”

We all laughed, then Yaksha said, “Most of them are good, though some are more of an acquired taste.”

“It sounds like some of what you know could help us if we’re in a fight.” I said.

“They can, though I would suggest you do not try to alter yourself to much with my brews. Some of the brews I know only last a day or two, but most will stay with you forever, if you use to many of those it could have a negative effect not a positive one. One should never alter themselves too much.”

“But if we wanted something to just change one thing about ourselves, that would be okay?” I asked.

“It would, but I would still think before you decide to do so.” Yaksha said.

“Yeah, I’d like to reach Cartwheel today.” Aura said getting up as well and stretching, “Though I’m still not up to full strength.”

“You can take a break Aura,” Wind Thrasher said, “I’m feeling a lot better after eating Yaksha’s cooking last night and today.”

“Yes, but if I start to get tired, I’ll be sure to let you know.” Wind Thrasher said with a big smile, showing off her rows of sharp teeth. One day I’m going to have to tell her how creepy that looks, but for now I’d let it go.

“Oh before we go,” I said running over to the Sky carriage and pulling the case The Stranger gave me last night off the roof where I left it, “The Stranger was here last night, he wanted me to give you this Stardust.”

He looked at the case then opened it, “This is Wrath’s AMR…why’s he giving it to me?”

He looked a little sick as the memory of that night must have flashed in his head, “I did, but still it feels wrong to take this.”

“I think you should, I know you killed him because you weren’t in your right mind, but maybe by using his best rifle, it’ll be a way to honor his memory.”

“Maybe, I mean after what you told me about that night and Wrath’s past, I feel kind of bad for killing him. I remember why I took it and what I was planning on doing with it.” He said slowly closing the case, “Still I’ll hold on to it for now while I think of what I want to do, maybe I’ll fix it up some and make it easier for a pegasus to use.”

“Good enough for me, even if you decide to sell it later, it will still be worth a lot of caps.” I said happily.

“That it will,” he said before picking up the case and walking into the Sky Carriage.

Wind Thrasher hooked up to the front and soon we were off. As soon as we started heading west again, Yaksha came over to where I was sitting in the carriage looking over the book The Stranger gave me last night, Aura sitting to one side looking out of the window.

“Shadow, are you ready to start learning what I have to teach you?” she asked.

I closed the book and looked over at her, “I’m not sure. I still don’t know how you can help me with my magical control or with the other thing I have a problem with.”

“It is true that I may not know how to use magic in the same way you do, but I have read a lot of books and old scrolls about it. Since your own mother did not teach you how to use your magic, at least that is what I am guessing from what your friends told me while you were in the orb. Then I can at least pass down the lessons in her place.” Yaksha said sitting next to me.

She smiled, “It is simple. From what I learned, you have a great amount of power, but not much control over what you have. At least not as much as you should for what you can do. To fix this you need to learn how to clear your mind.”

Aura chuckled, “That’s for sure. She can’t even stop thinking when she has someone like me doing naughty things to her.”

Wingnut’s attention snapped from the conversation he was having with Stardust to Aura. His jaw dropped open, “Tell, me, EVERYTHING!”

Aura grinned, “Well I first I noticed it when I was running my talons just under…”

“Aura I swear to Luna, don’t say another word!” I said, glaring over at her.

“Awww, but don’t you think he deserves to know. Wingnut is the one who helped us get together even though he has a huge crush on you.”

All my friends laughed as I blushed out of embarrassment. I looked back at Yaksha, “I give you my friends.”

Yaksha smiled “I remember being teased similarly with my group of friends I travelled with.”

Yaksha frowned, “Now is not the time Shadow we need to focus on this.” She gestured at the book and went back to explaining to me what I needed to do to clear my mind, “Also, while I am teaching her, I would like the rest of you to leave her alone. She does not have much time and I would like to make sure she is not worrying about her love life.”

It turned out that what Yaksha had me do is meditate. She explained everything I needed to do, from how to sit, to how to breath. I listened to everything she said, doing my best to clear my mind. I didn’t do very well at first, but as time went on I started to understand what she was saying. That is how the next few hours went as we grew ever closer to home. After she finished with her first lesson she told me I should take a break, so the rest of the trip I pulled out mom’s spell book and looked up the chapter that had to do with memory spells.

An hour and a half after I started reading the chapter about memory spells, Wind Thrasher said, “Shadow!”

Closing the book I walked over to the small window in the front of the Sky Carriage asking, “What’s wrong Wind Thrasher?”

She was starting to bring the Sky Carriage down, as she did she said, “I smell blood. A lot of blood.”

I looked at the map on my Pip-Buck and saw that we weren’t far from Cartwheel, “How far is it!”

“Just below us, a little down the road from Cartwheel and off the path.” She said, “I think I see Steel Ranger armor.”

“Let’s check it out, if something happened to one of the patrols I’ll have to make sure Elder Appleslice knows.”

“No, but if Steel Rangers died near Cartwheel, then the town may be in danger too.”

Wind Thrasher landed the Sky Carriage and we all stepped out. As we did Stardust asked, “Wind Thrasher, where are you smelling the blood? I’m not seeing anything.”

She pointed toward a small hill a few feet away, “Just around there, I don’t want to get too close, the smell’s making me feel…a little strange.”

“Let’s go check it out.” I said, “Yaksha can you wait here with Wind Thrasher?”

The rest of us pulled out our weapons and slowly walked toward the hill. As I got closer the metallic smell of blood filled my nostrils and I gagged at the smell mixed with rotting flesh. As we rounded the bend I saw six ponies in power armor lying dead in a black dried pool of blood. It looked like somepony with Armor Piercing rounds ambushed them either on their way to Cartwheel or from it. It was strange that the smell of rotting flesh was so strong. Even with the Power Armor filled with holes, the armor should still keep away the smell more than this.

Then I saw where it was coming from. A mare in grey robes was stuck to the small hill, spikes driven through her hooves to keep her in place. Just like the memory I saw, only they didn’t take her eyes or her tongue like the Zebra’s did. It made it a lot easier to identify who the mare was. It was Elder Appleslice, some pony had attacked her, even worse, it looked like it happened at least a week or more ago. The lower parts of her body were bloated from the blood collecting down in her legs, her tongue was sticking out as well and it was black and dry. Her eyes were locked open, they too were dried out and grey. Whoever had done this had tortured her before finishing the job with a bullet to her heart.

At first, I would've thought zebra’s did this, or maybe some strong raider group left over from Crackerjack’s group. Then I saw what was carved over her head into the rock. It said ‘Traitor’. That word alone told me who must have done this, if the Elder was being called a Traitor, then she was killed by other Steel Rangers.

“Elder Appleslice was a good mare, who would do this to her?” Stardust said.

“It can only be the Steel Rangers, either she was killed by her own ponies, or Wolfsbane. Whoever it is, they are going to pay for killing her.”

[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]

NEW PERK ADDED!

Zebra Brew: Well what do you know! Zebra food is quite delicious! Due to your new found love for the food you ate from Yaksha, you now get a +1 boost to any part of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats whenever you eat any Zebra food, depending on the affect it has. The effects however only last for a few hours, and only works once per day.

Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 41: Light Em' Up