“I didn’t steal anything from that fat slob apart from his daughters’ heart, all three of them truth be told.”

I ran over to Greed as he fell forward, “Shit, Greed are you okay?” he didn’t respond.

“How did he even get like this, I thought his armor kept him safe?” Wingnut asked as he slowly moved closer to the fallen pegasus.

“Some magic and weapons can hurt him, but not much else.” I said as I looked him over.

“I don’t know, probably pick him up off the floor, maybe get him to one of the rooms so Aura can look him over,” I said trying to lift him with my magic.

“Oh shut up and help me get him to a bed,” I said turning toward the others, “Wind Thrasher, you and Stardust fly up the lift shaft and go stand guard at the door to the shack, there’s a good chance he was followed.”

Aura and Wingnut helped me carry him over to Minuette’s room and lay him down. I took a healing potion out of my saddle bags and poured it in his mouth as Aura pinched his nose to make him reflexively swallow. Some of his wounds started to heal before my eyes and I could see his face relax as if the pain was fading.

“So, what makes you think he’s on our side?” Aura asked, “I mean, you said he helped you after Silver died, but since then he hasn’t really done anything helpful. He hasn’t even sent you any intel on the Sins or warned you about where they’re at. He could be a spy.”

“Let’s just say that there are really good reasons that I can’t quite explain right now. He’s helped me in the past and I’m sure it’s because he’s obsessed with me, but there’s a chance that it’s because under all that sinful greediness, he’s one of the good guys. Well, one of the good guys who also happens to be a klepto,” I replied, “Anyway, could you get me a clean rag with some water on it so I can clean some of this blood off of him?”

“Just get the rag, nag-nag-nag-nag-nag,” she mocked as she went to go get it, “At least now we know who’s the girl in this relationship.”

“So…is that really one of the Seven Sins of Equinity?” Byte asked from the door.

Looking back at her I nodded, “Yeah, his name is Greed, but he’s really not a bad pony or anything…well he is a bad pony I guess, but not like the others.”

“Yeah, he’s helped me out a couple times in the past. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have gotten a message my mare-friend Silver left for me when she died. I think her death was too much for him, I think she helped him find a better side of himself,” I said as I turned back to Greed, checking his wounds. From what I could tell, they weren’t very bad, he’d just lost a lot of blood from all the cuts.

Byte and Wingnut moved closer to me, Byte asking, “You’ve talked about Silver before. How did she die?”

For a moment, an image flashed across my eyes. Silver laying in that small room, holes poked through her body, mostly dried blood covering her body and the carpet, her horn snapped off and lying next to her. I shook my head, “Pride…Oricalcos, my uncle killed her. This was before he knew who I was, she was taken as a hostage so The Sins could force me to give them my Mark II.”

“So, your uncle, who used to be Pride, the same pony who killed my mother, killed your mare-friend. He was traveling with you for a while too right? How did you forgive a monster like him for what he did to you?” Byte asked.

Wingnut added, “Yeah Shadow, I’ve been wondering about that too. Why did you forgive Oricalcos for killing Silver? You never gave us a reason. One day silver died because of him and the next day… Poof! He was just there and you said we can trust him.”

I sighed and looked at the two young ponies, “Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve forgiven him for killing Silver. I’m not sure I ever can. My uncle has done a lot of evil things in his life, most of it to help my mother, but with my memories back, I remember him being a fun pony, somepony who always wanted to make sure I was doing ok. He used to sneak into our house sometimes when mom and dad went to bed and read me stories to help me sleep.”

“So, you can’t see past the stallion he used to be or something?” Byte asked.

“It’s not that, I think it’s more that I can see good in him. Somewhere buried deep in his shadowy form there is a kind soul who wants to do better, he wants to make up for the evil he’s done. He’s done everything he can to help me ever since he found out who I was. I’m still angry about Silver, and I hate that he killed your mom Byte, but I want to try and help him be a better pony. Hating him won’t do anything good, it won’t bring back the ponies he’s killed, it will only make things worse. I don’t have much family left, and I don’t want to lose who I still have,” I said.

Byte looked down at her hooves, “I can’t say I hate him for what he did to my mom, but he did take her away from me. No matter what he does, I’ll never forgive him or your mom for what they did,” her voice cracking a little, and with a hoofwipe to her eye she turned and walked out of the room.

“Go down to the memory pods and grab three of the memories,” I said naming off which three in the rows I needed, “I have a feeling we’re gonna have to leave this place in a hurry and I don’t want to leave them behind, those three could help me get mom to see who I really am.”

“No problem, Byte and I both examined the set up for those pods and the memory orb shelf. It’s not hard to get them out,” Wingnut said, turning to head out the door.

“Thanks kiddo,” I said as he left, passing Aura on her way back into the room.

She came back with a damp stained rag, “Did the best I could, at least the water here seems to be clean.”

I took it in my magic and started to wipe away the blood on Greed’s face. As I turned his face with my hoof he said quietly, “Your hooves are soft.”

“I know, but that makes it sound so professional. I’m clearly not a professional,” he replied with a grin.

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, whatever at least you seem to be doing better. So, you said that Oricalcos is back to his old ways. Is he the one that did this to you?”

“Yeah, if it wasn’t for my shield, I’d be diced into neat little cubes fit for The White Hoof Society. Y’know, cause they’re cannibals…allegedly. Cloak found out I was getting information for you and used some freaky crystal to sick Pride on me like her vicious little lapdog. I think if he was acting on his own free-will, he would’ve done a better job at killing me.”

“Or he was trying to let you go, Oricalcos is on my side, at least he was until a few days ago. So, my mother is controlling him with a crystal? I didn’t think he could be controlled with all the power he has,” I asked.

“Wait-wait-wait, mother?” Greed asked, looking confused, “Cloak’s your mom!?”

He smirked, “I always thought there was another reason she was hunting you like she was. How’d you get her to hate you so much? Wait I thought Cloak’s daughter died. That’s what she told Pride and the rest of us.”

“I didn’t, somepony called Hex did. She thinks that I’m really dead and am an imposter of her daughter. Hex used this thing called The Memory Stone on her and altered her memories, I think there might be a way to fix it, but it won’t be the same as getting her actual memories back. After three days of the stone being used on you, the memories you lost are gone for good,” I explained.

His smirk disappeared, “Oh, that really sucks. I could find and kill this Hex guy if you want me to. Sounds like a real douche.”

“No you can’t, he also happens to be the father of some friends of mine. I’m pretty sure if they found out I sent someone to kill their dad, I’d be dead within a week.”

“They’re hunters of the supernatural. I think I qualify as something they’d hunt, I’m pretty sure I just got lucky when I met them because I was able to keep what’s inside me under control.”

He smirked again, “Sounds like you’ve been a busy mare. All that aside, looks like you got your good looks from your mom. She’s actually pretty hot in the old mare kinda way. Not really saying I’d freak that but…”

I pressed the rag hard into another wound, he groaned and I said, “I’m sorry, I must have blood in my ear. What was that?”

“Maybe I will if you stop being such a creepy perve,” I let up on the pressure and continued to get the rest of the blood off as I asked, “Anyway, is there any chance you were followed?”

“It doesn’t matter if I was followed or not. You’re in our old hideout.” he replied.

“I have Stardust and Wind Thrasher standing watch upstairs in case something happens. And what do you mean your old hideout?”

He pushed my hoof away and sat up, “Trust me, that’s not enough. You should run while you can, they’re out for blood. This place is where the Sins worked out of when we were in New Pegasus.”

“Run, and what? Leave you here like this Greed? I’m not the kind of pony to leave somepony behind while I run to duck and cover for safety,” I argued.

“I don’t know what to call you right now. You never told me your real name,” I said.

“My name’s Thundercracker, or at least it was before I was forced to become a Sin. Anyway, none of that matters right now, I came here to warn you that they’re coming for you and that you don’t have much of a window to run.”

Aura narrowed her eyes, “How’d you even know she was here? In that case how do the Sins know we’re here?”

Thundercracker sighed, “Cloak had a spell on the lift here, if it was triggered, it would let her know. Since you all entered here a few days ago, The Sins knew.”

I cocked my head at that, “If that’s true, then why didn’t she ever look at the memories downstairs?”

“Those old things? She didn’t trust it, she thought it was trapped for some reason. Minuette made that thing and she was afraid that if somepony tampered with it, they’d get stuck in the pods. Also, we weren’t here a lot and when we were, we stayed up here,” he replied.

“Strange, normally she’d do everything she could to get memory orbs,” I said, then shook my head, “We’ll worry about it later, for now let’s figure out what we should do next.”

“You need to run! I’m sure I wasn’t followed, but like I said, Cloak knows somepony’s here, she won’t be far behind me,” he said.

“Too bad, I’m not running. I’m The Courier for Goddesses sake, I’m gonna stay and fight if I have to. I figured something like this was gonna happen sooner or later and I’d rather just get it over with and stop my mother, or die trying. Hopefully not the latter,” I retorted.

Aura was sitting on a stool in the corner and cleared her throat, “I’m sort of a fan of running, I know what Oricalcos does to ponies and whatnot. I don’t want to be another gore stain on The Wasteland.”

“There’s a key significance to battling pride this time though. First, we know his weakness. Second, he’s not in control of his actions and I could try breaking through to him to help him overcome the mind control. Third, my mother doesn’t have all of The Sins anymore. Greed, I mean Thundercracker, can’t help protect them. Gluttony isn’t around to try eating anyone. Wrath is dead and we know a way to slow down Envy. All we’d have to deal with is Oricalcos, Sloth, and that skank Lust,” I explained.

Thundercracker bowed his head, “It’s still a death-wish Shadow. The Sins that’re left are the strongest out of all of us. Plus, you’re forgetting about that new Wrath kid she’s got with her. The poor sap doesn’t know what’s really going on with the whole thing, he’s just following orders.”

I’d totally forgotten about the new Wrath. I don’t know how I could forget the bastard that recently shot me with a poison dart, but then I remembered Stardust, “You forget we also have one of the best trained scout snipers in The Wasteland with us. With the right vantage, he shouldn’t be much of a problem unless he’s as good as Stardust or better which I highly doubt.”

“He’s from the same program as your friend up there, believe me, he’s good,” Thundercracker said solemnly.

From the same program as Stardust? Why would any of them align themselves with The Enclave? “Is he a loyalist? The last time I checked, everypony from Stable 97 hated The Enclave after everything that happened there.”

“I have no idea, all I know is that he’s really good,” he replied, “I was about to send you intel on him when I got caught by Cloak, that’s how I was found out.

“Hey Shadow, how’s it going down there? Cause we gotta get the fuck out soon,” Stardust asked, his voice echoing down the lift shaft and through the open door.

I walked out of the room and over to the door that led to the lift, “Why? Is there someone here?”

“I’m not actually sure, but there’s a gnarly ass storm coming and it doesn’t look normal,” Stardust replied.

“It’s Pride,” Thundercracker said, walking up behind me slowly, “You and your friends should go while you can, I should be able to hold him off for a bit.”

“And why the fuck would I leave your dumb ass here? I understand you wanna protect me and everything, but you can’t just try to kill yourself and think I’d let you,” I protested.

“Shadow, if he wants to stay here it’s his choice,” Aura said before Thundercracker could speak.

“Really? You’d just let him die to protect us? That’s not how we do things, we’re supposed to be heroes, or at least Wastelanders that only kill bad things. Plus Gree…funcking Goddesses dammit, I mean Thundercracker, is my friend. When have I ever left one of you behind to face certain death?”

Wingnut was in the doorway and raised a hoof, “Um, is this something we should really be debating right now? Also, heroes or not, every hero knows when to run like a little bitch.”

I sighed, “Thundercracker, do you think you can fly or at least walk well enough to escape with us? If not, I could probably hold you in my magic.”

Thundercracker smiled, “As much as I’d enjoy that experience, yes, I can walk.”

If Pride doesn’t kill us, I should probably tell him later to stop hitting on me in front of Aura, she’s probably ready to skin him alive right now. It’s too bad we have to leave this place so soon, I would’ve liked to stay here a bit longer and see if there was anything else here I could find out about Mom. On the other hoof, we could come back here someday if we need somewhere to rest and we’re close by, “Okay then, let’s go kick some sinful ass.”

“Oooo, sexy,” Thundercracker said making me blush a little as he activated his shield, “At least this still works, I should be able to help keep the others away from you, but Cloak and Pride will be a problem.”

Byte and Wingnut joined us by the lift a moment later. Once I knew we had our stuff we took the lift back upstairs to join Stardust and Wind Thrasher, everyone ready for a fight. I readied my plasma rifle and tossed Dreamwalker to Wind Thrasher who immediately dropped it, “I’m sorry Shadow, I didn’t mean to drop it, but do I have to use it, and wouldn’t that thing break my teeth?”

“Wind Thrasher, you don’t have any guns. You need something to use that isn’t strictly just your vocal prowess and whatever else you do. Also Dream Walker was designed for an Earth Pony, the recoil won’t hurt your mouth,” I replied as I picked the gun back up with my magic and put the bit in her mouth.

“No buts, this is what remains of The Sins and I don’t want to risk one of us not having a weapon. It’s not like before where we’re only facing one or two of them. At least I’m pretty sure what remains of them is coming, Thundercracker wasn’t too clear on whether they were all with my mother or not.”

She cocked her head and one of her ears drooped to the side as she mumbled with a confused look on her face, “Who’s Thundercracker.”

I walked over to the door and looked at the strange storm Stardust was talking about and “strange” didn’t even begin to describe it. It was like looking at a giant moving cloud of smoke with lightning dancing all around it. As I gazed upon it I could feel the evil it held, it was cold and empty. I looked to the ground ahead and I could see a small group of ponies walking, it was easy to tell who it was with Oricalcos walking in front of the pack with my mother. From what I could tell, his power was enveloping his vessel in a silhouette of blackness with glowing purple eyes.

“I got a shot lined up on Lust,” Stardust said as he looked down the scope of his rifle.

“Take it,” I said quickly, “If we take the slut out now, she won’t be able to use her seductive powers to control at least some of us.”

Right as Stardust was about to take the shot, a bullet dug into the wood of the shack’s wall, splintering the wood everywhere, “Fuck! Sniper!” Stardust yelled, taking cover behind the wall, “I thought Wrath was dead.”

“Don’t you remember? They replaced him with some new kid,” I said as I also took cover behind the wall on the other side of the door.

“Here, take this,” Thundercracker said, tossing a stealth-buck to Stardust, “Use that to get to a vantage point. If you fly, the little bastard won’t see your hoofprints, and lucky for you we’re not above the clouds so he won’t be able to see the distorted light through his scope.”

“He doesn’t, says they take away from the challenge. What a douchebag right?” Thundercracker replied.

Stardust started to activate the stealth-buck as he said through his teeth, “I swear to Celestia, if I get shot…nhn, your other ear.”

Thundercracker smirked then flinched his half ear twitching a little, blood still dripping from it even with his armor activated, “Bitch you know the ladies dig scars.”

Stardust turned on the stealth-buck and flew out the door as Thundercracker pulled a small yet strange looking rocket launcher out of his saddle bags, “What the hell is that?” I asked.

“THIS, is the one of a kind experimental weapon called The Pocket Rocket being developed by The Enclave. I probably should’ve told Stardust and uhhh, the blue one to cover their nads, this baby’s radioactive,” he explained.

I took half a second to think about it and remembered something as he took aim, “My Pip-Buck didn’t click at all though, are you sure that thing’s live?”

“Huh, that’s weird. Whatever, Pip-Bucks are stupid anyway. Also, avert your eyes from the flash unless you wanna be blind,” he said as he bit down on the trigger.

Heat surrounded us with an overwhelming pressure as the rocket left its housing. I watched as it whizzed through the air and I was ready to close my eyes as it made impact, but what happened I only suspected would have a thirty percent chance of happening. The rocket blasted toward Pride and phased through his body only to bounce off of one of the Sin’s heads, I couldn’t tell who though.

Aura started to laugh, “Hey Dr. Dumbass, looks like your little red rocket was a dud.”

He gritted his teeth, “It’s not funny, how was I supposed to know it wouldn’t blow up?”

Right about then a bolt of lightning struck the top of the shack from the giant cloud, starting a small fire and deafening all of us. I aimed my plasma rifle out the door and randomly fired a few shots, “We have to do something, we’re trapped in this shithole and there’s no other way out but this door.”

“Can’t you teleport? You’re a freakin’ unicorn aren’t you?” Byte said snarkily.

“Not without leaving you guys behind, I can only teleport myself, most of the time and only one other when I can.”

“But you could get a better vantage on them and cover us while we get out of the shack and find our own cover,” she said again.

The idea wasn’t a bad one, but with my luck I’d get shot by this new Wrath, “How about we tweak that idea, give me your gravity gun.”

She just gave me the ‘really’ look and raised an eyebrow, “Yes, but I guess you’re right about the aim and shoot thing.”

I took the gravity gun in my magic, “I’m gonna teleport somewhere near them and blast the shit out of them. Once you see them go down, run like hell to some cover. A rock, a hole in the ground, I don’t care. Just get to a place that’s not here.”

They all nodded as I drew upon my magic and teleported. Where I wanted to teleport was behind them, but it turns out my horn had other plans and I ended up face to face with Oricalcos who grinned, “Technical difficulties Shadow?”

Instead of dignifying that with a response, I aimed the gravity gun at the ground, and fired. I knew the gravity gun wouldn’t hurt Oricalcos, but it would hurt the others. What I didn’t realize, is that when you fire a gun like this, you shouldn’t do it so close to where you’re standing. The next thing I knew I was disoriented and flying through the air, and when I spotted which direction the ground was, I saw that it was quickly approaching. I tried teleporting again but nothing happened, probably because up was three different kinds of left and down was someplace between right and northwest. Maybe I’ll hurl before I die, at least it’ll be more productive than trying to teleport again. Then I was caught by a pair of hooves, “You’re clumsy,” Thundercracker said as he sat me down behind a short brick wall that must’ve been the former corner of a houses’ foundation, “Don’t worry, I’ll cover while you get your bearings.”

“Experiments are for scientists, it’s not my fault the damn thing didn’t work. I got this zebra rifle though, and it hasn’t jammed on me yet,” he said as he took aim with the rifle and started shooting at Sloth.

I looked around the corner and I saw them all, Sloth who was dodging Thundercracker’s shots, Lust who was engaged in battle with Aura, my mother who was being helped up off of the ground by Oricalcos, and Envy who took the form of a Hellhound was fighting with Wind Thrasher, Wingnut, and Byte. I was surprised how well they were holding up against him. There was someone missing though, Wrath. I didn’t see him in the sky, and it didn’t look like any of the others were being shot at yet so Stardust was probably distracting him, or he’s already dead.

I looked over where Oricalcos was helping my mother again and saw that it was only the two of them. This could be my chance to get into Mom’s head and show her what I just saw. I took a flash grenade out of my saddlebags and tried to call on my magic again to teleport, but the only thing my horn did was make a ‘pppptttt’ sound and spurt out a little bit of magic energy that popped and fizzled. I took another quick look around at the chaos and noticed that everyone else was distracted, “Thundercracker, cover me. I’m going after my mother and Pride.”

“Oricalcos is stronger than some dumb crystal. If I’m right, he’ll try to resist the urge to kill me for long enough.”

I could hear Thundercracker behind me, “Shadow wait! He’s…” I didn’t hear the rest of what he said as I got further away from him and closer to Pride and Mom.

While I was running, my uncle noticed the movement and vanished before my eyes as Mom started to shoot in my general direction. I stopped running and dove behind a rock to avoid the shots and in turn shot back with my plasma rifle. Then the rock turned pitch black and Pride oozed out of it. I tried to get up and run, but for some reason I couldn’t move, “Hello Shadow,” Pride said.

“I’ve possessed your shadow, Grimoire wants you alive for now. However, now that I’ve caught you, she’ll make me kill you once she’s decided you’re no longer useful,” he answered.

His facial expression, if you could call cloudy, shadowy, smoke a face, didn’t change, “No, I can’t control any of my actions. Grimoire made me cast a spell to enhance my power for a short time. It’s a spell that draws upon the darkness in the caster’s soul, called Apocalypse Drive. In my shadow form I was powerful, but as the description of the spell says, I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

I grasped the flash grenade in my magic again hoping he wouldn’t notice, “Well Uncle Ori, if you’re Death, then go into the light,” I said.

I closed my eyes just before the grenade detonated and felt his grip on me disintegrate. I tried to get up and run, but found myself bound by shadows again, “Like I said before, my power is enhanced. Flash grenades don’t have much of an effect right now,” Pride said as the rest of his body reformed.

Right about then Mom walked up behind me, “Funny, I didn’t think I’d see YOU and your posse of misfits here. Though I’m not surprised, lucky for me I wasn’t far when the alarm went off three days ago.”

“Let’s call it a bonus package deal, with batteries included,” I said sarcastically.

She backhoofed me across the face, “Don’t get smart with me, I want to know what the hell you think you’re doing here.”

Now was my chance, she’s right here in front of me. I could cast one of the memory spells I read in her book and show her what I’ve seen in the past few days. I started to cast the spell and felt an unusual pressure in my head. Once again, my horn sputtered out glittery magic and failed to cast the spell, but this time my head immediately started to pound.

Mom sniffed the air mockingly, “Hmm, technical difficulties? Smells like you’ve burned out your horn. I guess batteries AREN’T included in your package deal. However, it makes things easier for me.”

She smiled maliciously, “Interrogating you to find out why you’re at this place, taking care of Greed, and probably killing one of your friends. Not all of them of course, it seems you’ve managed to reverse the effects of what was done to the pegasus. I’ll be taking him with me for a special execution.”

“How are you gonna do that when you can’t even find him? I noticed your sniper hasn’t been taking any shots at us lately which means he’s engaged in battle with Stardust.”

“All of my friends know you don’t want me dead yet, so I’m not really the best hostage. If you take me prisoner I’ll probably just end up escaping, getting rescued by them, or there’s a chance that Aquila will emerge and tear all of you to shreds,” I said plainly.

“Well, at least you admit you’re worthless. I would’ve thought you’d go on some long-winded rant about being some sort of good-hearted hero. Though Aquila does worry me, from the look of your coat, she’s taking over. No matter, I have my ways of keeping a star spawn trapped for a while,” Mom said turning toward her brother, “Pride, tie her up and teleport her out of here, I’m not risking losing her again.”

I looked toward my uncle and noticed he hadn’t moved. He narrowed his purple eyes, “N…No.”

“What was that!” Mom asked pulling a crystal from around her neck. I noticed that it looked a lot like the one that Scribe used to trap him, “I told you before Pride, you work for me, not this mare who’s trying to make you think she’s Star.”

He moved forward a little then stopped again, “Grim…it’s not a lie, she is who…she says she is. I keep trying to make you understand!”

“He’s right, mom it’s me, please just trust me a little and stop fighting us. I can prove it to you!” I yelled still trying to move.

Mom looked over at me her eyes filled with rage, “Don’t ever refer to me as your mother, my daughter’s DEAD!”

I could see that Oricalcos was trying his best to stop himself from following her orders as he replied, “Why else would I help her unless I knew who she was. I’ve seen her memories, I know what you did to hide her. This is Star, she didn’t die, you just can’t remember.”

“STOP LYING TO ME!” Mom yelled, “You told me that she was dead when my memories were messed with. You told me what happened when I couldn’t remember it all. Why are you trying to lie to me now!?”

“I only told you what you told me. You were hiding her from everypony so she could grow up in Stable 28. You wanted her safe, even from me,” Oricalcos said.

I saw a single tear run down Mom’s face as she looked back at me, “She can’t be Star, I remember some things now and I saw her die. Her heart gave out the same day I found Project Stargazer. I did everything I could to save her, but I couldn’t stop it.”

“I saw your memories, down in the bunker, those orbs you didn’t take or watch because you thought they were a trap. You put those there for me! I saw so much of what happened to you, I saw you meet Dad, I saw what you had to do to fix me, I saw when you first found the Forgotten Library!”

For a moment, her eyes went wide as she started to say, “How’d you know about…” then Lust slammed into her, Wind Thrasher landing a few feet away.

“I can’t Wind Thrasher, it’s taking everything I have to keep myself from following the rest of Grim’s orders,” Oricalcos said, his body shifting between his shadow form and his pony form.

But to my utter surprise, Wind Thrasher didn’t pull out Dream Walker or use her scream, she pulled out The Ranger Finder. I forgot she’d been keeping it safe, she pointed it right at my mother saying around it’s bit, “Let her go or I’ll destroy all of you.”

Mom just laughed, “You wouldn’t do that, your courier friend would get caught up in the blast too.”

“Huh?” Mom said, then out of nowhere Wingnut showed up throwing a flash grenade at Oricalcos. It was so fast that I barely had time to close my eyes as it went off.

It was just enough for me to get free of my uncle’s power. I started to run, as Wingnut ran past me getting as far away from mom and the rest of them as I could. As soon as we reached Wind Thrasher I yelled, “Wind Thrasher you can’t use that on them, it’ll kill my mom and my uncle.”

Looking back toward them I saw that they still hadn’t moved. They knew what that weapon could do. Wind Thrasher on the other hoof said, “Sorry Shadow, but I saw those memories too. Your mother wouldn’t want to be like this, same goes for your uncle. We have to kill them.”

“Wind Thrasher, I thought you hated killing!?” I yelled as she started to pull down on the trigger.

“I do hate killing, but you said it yourself, one day I’d have to choose between killing to save a friend, or not killing and losing my friend. I’m not letting any of them hurt you or any of us again,” Wind Thrasher said, and before I could stop her, she pulled down on the trigger.

The three of them turned to start running, as I was trying to scream for Wind Thrasher to stop. Then I saw that nothing was happening with Solar Flare’s Ranger Finder. The message on the screen wasn’t doing what it normally did, instead a new message came up.

Solar Flare’s Range Finder Genetic Scanner has detected that the subject trying to fire this weapon is not recognized. Deactivating...

Mom seemed to realize that something went wrong, because she turned after a minute and smiled, “I guess that thing doesn’t work all the time does it.”

“No…no, no, no, no…Why isn’t it working!?” Wind Thrasher said around the bit.

I remembered then that only certain ponies could use the Ranger Finder, “It has a genetic scanner on it. You can’t fire it Wind Thrasher.”

She put the Ranger Finder away, “Fine, then I’ll just kill them my own way.”

She opened her muzzle right as mom started using her magic saying, “Time to die freak…”

Wind Thrasher let out a more powerful scream than I’d ever heard her use. I had to cover my own ears as sound waves blasted toward Mom, Oricalcos, and Lust. Lust tapped a choker around her throat with a red gem on it. It turned green and she stepped in the way opening her own mouth and sending something a lot like Wind Thrasher Scream toward her.

The two sound waves crashed into each other, a loud boom echoed out and both of them flew back. I was about to go after Wind Thrasher to make sure she was okay. Then my vision seemed to flicker and a moment later, at least it seemed like a moment later, I was standing in front of my mother closer to the Shack. Oricalcos was next to her still trying to fight the control, but Wind Thrasher, Wingnut and Lust were gone.

I looked around confused at what just happened, the feeling only got worse when I saw Mom looking at me funny. I took a step back asking, “What just happened?”

“I’d like to know the same thing, one minute you were running toward your bat friend the next you tried to attack me,” Mom said slowly walking toward me, “Then after I got away from your attack, you started telling me how you could help me with something, then you ran toward my shack then changed again.”

Oricalcos’s eyes were wide as he struggled to say, “Shadow, it was Aquila…”

He stopped talking, I looked between them, “Let Oricalcos go, if you do I’ll do whatever you want, but please stop controlling him.”

I had enough, I pulled the Plasma Rifle off my back and pointed it right at her, “Why are you so Goddesses damned stubborn!? I am family you selfish bitch! I am Star, I was born in the Crystal Empire. I was hurt by Oricalcos in his lab, I was sick, and you tried everything to help me. I was there when you went to Stargazer Labs, you took me to Stable 28 and two years after that you abandoned me so you could find a way to get this MONSTER out of me that YOU put there in the first place!”

Her eyes narrowed, “None of that happened to you, you are nothing but a stupid filly whose memories were concocted so you’d think you were my Star. Also, I want my rifle back it’s…”

I pulled the trigger, firing a blast of plasma at her hooves. She jumped back then glared at me as I said, “A family heirloom, yeah I know I saw you take it from your mother. It used to belong to Dwarf Star.”

I could tell that my uncle wanted to say something but he couldn’t so I answered, “No, you showed me in one of the memories down in the bunker.”

I could feel tears starting to fall as I said, “You’re not ever going to believe me, are you?”

I looked into her angry eyes as she said, “I may have lost some of my own memories, but I know what happened to Star. She was nothing like you, she was sweet, caring, kind, and POWERFUL! Nothing like you, I’ve done some bad things in my life Courier, but you make me look like a saint. My Star wouldn’t have ever destroyed Mill City Tower killing everypony inside with a superweapon. She wouldn’t have killed so many ponies in Appleton. She wasn’t a monster, but you are! So no, I’ll never believe you.”

“Then I’m sorry Mom, but I can’t let you go on living like this. I hope that you’ll find peace with the Goddesses and forgive me for having to do this,” I said and I pulled the trigger.

As I did her horn flashed and I felt the Plasma rifle jerk and the shot went wild. I tried to pull the rifle away from her magical grip, but something was wrong, my magic was weakening and I could feel the rifle slowly slipping out of my own magical grip. As that happened, I noticed that a swift breeze was picking up around us. Then I saw a deep rage in her eyes as she glared at me, magic starting to flow from her horn. Using her hoof, she pulled out the crystal again and it started to glow too.

Oricalcos’s body started to turn into shadow again as he yelled, “Star…run.”

His voice was cut off as his body fully turned into shadows. He started to grow and swirl around my mother and I. As my uncle’s shadow form blocked our sight of my friends and everyone else around us she finally spoke, “I told you over and over again, not to call me Mom. You’ve made my life hell for the past couple of months Courier. You’ve killed my Sins, you’ve brainwashed my brother, stole my Pip-Buck, ruined my plans, worked with my husband to destroy years of work, and you keep trying to make me think you’re my daughter. I’m done with you, I don’t care if you die anymore, I’ll risk the Mark II wiping the memory, I only need it to unlock Falling Shadows.”

Magic Circles appeared around me and right away I could feel my heart start to beat faster. I lost control of my magic, Mom pulling the Plasma Rifle away as I fell to the ground clutching my chest. It felt like it had when I was little and still sick. Pain ran up my body, it was getting hard to breath and my body felt weak. I looked up at her as purple lightning started to flash around us from Oricalcos. Mom looked down at me with nothing but hatred, my…her…plasma rifle hovering above her.

The magic circles glowed brighter and the pain grew, I started to scream as she said, “You want to be my daughter…then you can die the same way she did. You can suffer as your heart is starved, feel the pain she did as she took her last breath.”

I could barely breath but I managed to get out, “If I die, so does Aquila’s power…and you need that for Falling Shadows.”

A small smile appeared on her lips, “We’ll see about that, goodbye Courier.”

My vision started to fade, but I was able to see something blast through my uncles’ shadows. Right before a pegasus in black power armor slammed into her sending her flying. Right away the pain in my chest vanished and I was able to breathe again. I took in a few deep breaths then looked over at who just saved me, who I saw took me by surprise, “Solstice?”

The grey and pink mare’s helmet wasn’t on and she smiled and laughed as she held my mother down, “Now that’s what I call good timing.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so you skeevy old hag,” Solstice pulled a ring out and placed it on her horn, “There we go, no more creepy magic for you.”

Mom’s horn stopped glowing and her eyes went wide, “Pride get her off me!”

I noticed then that my uncle wasn’t making a wall of Shadows anymore, he was standing right next to me, “No Grim, you need to calm down and listen for once.”

I noticed that the crystal mom was holding had fallen to the ground when Solstice tackled her. Slowly I pulled it closer with my magic then stomped on it, shattering the crystal under my hoof. I then looked at Solstice, “Tie her up,” then I looked back toward my friends who were still fighting and said, “Uncle Ori, think you can make The Sins Leave?”

He chuckled, “I think I can do that,” he started to draw on his power then he yelled in an enhanced voice, “All Sins fall back, we have The Courier. Plan beta.”

“They think I’m being controlled by Grim still, we can use that to help us…” he started to say then Sloth and Envy landed in front of us.

Sloth yawned, “What a drag. Really Pride did you think we didn’t see what happened over here. Let Cloak go and stand down, we aren’t scared of you anymore and we really need the Courier sooo, don’t make us have to kill her and her friends.”

Before he could do anything, a shot rang out and Envy was sent flying as a bullet slammed into his side. Sloth turned around looking for the shooter only to find a power-armored Doorstop’s rear hooves slamming into his face as he yelled “Pow, right in the kisser!”

Sloth slid back, a little blood flowing from his nose, “Great, more Dashites to deal with, this whole mission sucks.”

He started to chuckle, “Damn right we are, also a few of the kids from Stable 97. Good thing we showed up when we did,” then Doorstop looked at Sloth and Envy who were getting back up, “If I were you I’d put a giddyup in your step and get out of here as fast as you can. Ya’ll might be tough, but you can’t take on the ponies I trained from The Devil’s Children’s Program. They were bred to be killers.”

“Really now? You sure about that?” Doorstop asked pulling out a silver whistle and showing it to him, “I heard you don’t like the sound this thing makes.”

“Even if Envy can’t fight and as much as I hate to, I can take on all of you if I had to,” Sloth said stepping closer to Doorstop.

Doorstop didn’t back down, “Shadow how long have The Sins been fighting you all?”

“Our side…COOL, I’ll take it,” then he looked back at Sloth who was a few inches away now, “So fifteen minutes…so that means you should run out of energy right about…”

Like somepony had just cut invisible strings, Sloth’s body fell to the ground and he looked like he was about to fall asleep, “Damn…I wasn’t watching…the…time…” then he passed out and began to snore.

“Two down, two to go,” Doorstop said, lifting his Pip-Buck which I could see had a broadcaster, then he said into it, “Okay fillies and colts, time to show these so-called Sins who’s tougher, light em’ up.”

As he said that, at least ten pegasi flew into the air all of them with automatic weapons and wearing power armor. Where the hell did they get that power armor? They all took aim at Lust who took a few steps away from Wind Thrasher looking up at the pegasi. They opened fire right as Lust took to the air and flew away but not before one of the bullets tore through one of her hind legs. Her screams of pain were like a beautiful song to my ears. As soon as she was gone the pegasi stopped their attack.

“Good job cadidiots, now reload and help Dusty with Wrath!” Doorstop said into his Pip-Buck.

They all reloaded, but before they could do much else, a shot rang out from the direction Lust fled and one of the Pegasi went down as a bullet flew though her visor. Another shot followed the first and another pegasus fell. Before who I assumed was Wrath could take another shot, Stardust showed up out of nowhere and opened fire toward the direction the shots were coming from. In quick succession he blasted three shots, then lowered his rifle.

“Dammit, the coward flew away,” Stardust said as he started to fly down toward us with the rest of the pegasi following.

Envy cackled and a sickly grin parted his muzzle, “You think you’ve won don’t you?”

I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips as I nodded, “Looks like it Envy, how about you be a good Changeling and come with us peacefully, that is unless you want to die a long slow death.”

Oricalcos turned around quickly shadows flowing from him, “Keep quiet Grim!”

But he was too late, Envy laughed, “Understood Cloak,” in a flash of green light, he turned into a Griffon, flying forward and picking up Sloth. He twisted around and flew away before any of us could do anything. Stardust lifted his rifle and took aim, but Doorstop put a hoof on it and pushed it down, “Don’t, it won’t do much good against him. Let them leave for now, looks like we’ve got the real prize as it is.”

I put a hoof on Stardust’s shoulder, “Let it go, we’ve got what we need. The Sins aren’t much without Grimoire or Oricalcos.”

He sighed then nodded, “I understand, it just bothers me when we were so close to getting rid of them for good.”

“I know,” I said then turned back to Doorstop, “Hey old buck, so why are you back here? I thought you were staying in The Kingdom.”

It was Solstice who answered as she started to bind Mom’s hooves, “We were, but some of the Stable 97 brats wanted to go to New Pegasus. Said something about that’s where the action is. The rest stayed behind to help Sheena.”

Before I could ask more the eight pegasi who were left landed and none other than Shortcake walked forward, “Sergeant Doorstop, we lost two to a sniper, but the rest of us are fine. What are your orders?”

Doorstop sighed, “Yeah, I saw. Let’s give them their last respects then we should be heading out once we know Shadow and her friends are okay.”

“Yes SIR!” Shortcake said then she smiled over at Stardust fluttering her eyes, “Hey Dusty nice to see you again.”

Right as she did Wind Thrasher landed next to us with Wingnut. She saw Shortcake’s attempt at flirting with Stardust and let out a small growl as she stalked past the younger mare. Wingnut seemed to not notice as he jumped off her back and ran over to me, “Have any of you seen Byte?”

I stared to look around for the young filly when she yelled out from the shack, “I’m in here.”

“Yeah, I was making sure The Sins didn’t get to the bunker. But I think I was too late,” she replied, “Also, some stuff burned a little in here from that lightning strike.”

“Wait what?” I asked walking toward her, then I stopped as my mother started to laugh.

“Let me guess, the bunker went into lockdown, right?” Mom said, still laughing.

Byte looked over at her and I saw rage pull at her features but she seemed to keep it down as she said, “Yeah.”

Oricalcos cursed, “The bunker goes into lockdown when it’s threatened. Grim made me strike the shack with my magic, that must’ve trigged it.”

Mom looked up from where she was now tied up, “One month, if nothing else happens to the Shack then the lockdown will lift, but until then nopony can get in…or out. I do hope that you didn’t leave anything down there.”

Oricalcos put a hoof on my shoulder, “It’ll be fine Star, we’ll find a way to get her back to normal.”

Mom just rolled her eyes, “Back to normal, you two act like I’m missing something but I’m…”

“Oh shut up Grim, it’s getting really old,” Oricalcos said his horn glowing. A moment later she passed out from whatever spell he just used.

Solstice just looked down at her then shrugged, “Hey Shadow, your mom’s kind of a bitch y’know.”

“Tell me about it,” I said as I walked over to where Byte was still glaring at her, “You okay kiddo?”

“She’s the one who had my mom killed,” then she glared over at my uncle, “And he’s the one who did it.”

Oricalcos looked at Byte looking confused, “I’ve killed a lot of ponies young mare, whoever your mother was is just one in a long line of sins I’ve committed in my life. But if it helps, I’m sorry that your mother died because of my actions.”

“I’ll go talk to her, you stay here and figure out what we’re doing next,” he said before running after the filly.

“The mare in Trotston that was sending griffons after Mom when she took the Mark II. She sent you to take care of her,” I said with a sigh.

My uncle looked sad as he said, “Oh, I almost forgot about that day. Didn’t know she had a kid.”

“It doesn’t matter right now, Byte will settle down and if not then we’ll figure something out. Right now, we need to figure out what we’re doing next,” I said.

Thundercracker landed next to us a moment later looking over at Oricalcos, then my mother, and me, “That went better than I expected.”

“Hey, I was the one who took her down, not Miss Useless here,” Solstice said pointing her hoof at me.

Aura just shrugged, “Either way, glad you all showed up when you did. How’d you know where we were though?”

Solstice shrugged, “We stopped in a town two days back. Doorstop and I were trading when some robot came up to us and started telling us that we had to get to this location before we did anything else. Doorstop didn’t want to believe her or even listen to her, but she was quite persistent. Said that if we didn’t, something bad would happen to our friends. So, we figured what could it hurt to at least check it out.”

I facehooved and laughed, “That fucking bot,” I took a second to recover, “Serendipity must’ve run into your group, either way, I’m glad you showed up. Thank you, Solstice,” I said.

She shrugged, “Don’t thank me, if I would’ve known it was you I wouldn’t have come.”

“Stay away from me creep,” Solstice said backing away from Thundercracker, before turning toward me again, “So why are you all the way out here?”

“Had to deal with something, why are you back here? I thought you were staying in The Kingdom to stay away from The Enclave?”

“No need anymore, ever since Nightshade took over and made peace with The Kingdom, life’s gotten better. He gave me a pardon for running away from my post and made sure to call off the ponies looking for me to brand me, but I’m still not allowed back into the clouds for now,” she said.

“I might’ve been forgiven for what I did, but a lot of ponies in Stratus would freak out if a pony like me who’s spent so long in The Wasteland was to go up to the clouds. Stratus thinks that if you spend too much time down here you’re contaminated. It’ll take time to get them to realize that it’s a big lie.”

“I guess I understand, also where did you all get those sets of Power Armor?” I asked.

“It was a gift from Nightshade to the Pegasi in The Kingdom who were part of the program. I also got a set for helping save them from the Stable,” she replied.

“Enough talk about all the drama,” Thundercracker said, “What’s next?”

I looked over at my friend then back at my uncle and Greed…I mean Thundercracker, “I’m going to the Ministry.”

Oricalcos and Thundercracker both looked sick as my uncle said, “That’s the last place you want to go Star.”

“No, it’s the place I need to go. I need to find this Director and figure out if there’s anything she knows that can help me get Aquila out of me,” I said with a sigh.

“But Shadow…” Wind Thrasher started to say, but I glared over at her and she shut up.

“I have to go there, I need to finish this bullshit before…before I lose myself to her,” I said with another sigh.

Aura walked over to me and asked, “What did you see in those pods? Did it explain what you need to do to get her out?”

As she said that, I could feel Aquila’s power throbbing in my head and remembered how she took over without me even knowing for a moment just a few minutes ago, “Not long, maybe a few days, I’m not sure.”

Aura pulled me into a tight hug, “If that’s where you need to go then let’s get moving.”

I nodded then looked back at the rest of the group, “We need to plan this out, get everypony over here.”

“Make time then,” she said pulling me along and ignoring my attempts to get free of her. She was a lot stronger than I thought she was. When we were away from the rest of the ponies she rounded on me, “I saw the same things you did in those pods Shadow. Your mom said the only pony apart from her who can help you was Stormy. How do you even know that she’ll be at the Ministry? Even more, how do you know she’ll help you with Grim acting like she is?”

“Because I cut her throat before blowing up Mill City Tower. I didn’t know who she was or that she could help me…”

Wind Thrasher looked scared, “She was the only pony who could do anything to help apart from your mother. If she’s dead then how is going to the Ministry gonna help?”

“I don’t know, but if this Director was really trying to help my mother with Falling Shadows to fix me, then maybe she knows something that can help,” I replied.

Wind Thrasher moved closer to me whispering, “Shadow, what if she can’t help you?”

“You can’t just throw your life away like that Shadow, you can fight her, keep her back until we can fix this,” Wind Thrasher said, sounding desperate.

I sighed and hung my head, “I don’t want to die, it’s only a last resort that’s all, but if it comes down to it I’ll trade my own life for all of yours in a heartbeat.”

I put a hoof to her lips to stop her from saying more, “Wind Thrasher, if you lost yourself to the bloodlust and there was no way of fixing you, what would you want us to do?”

Tears started to show in her eyes as she said quietly, “I’d want you to end me so I wouldn’t hurt all of you.”

“That’s right,” I said as I hugged her, “I don’t want to die, I mean that, but if it’s the only way then so be it.”

She hugged me back doing her best not to cry, “If…if that has to happen…can you at least warn us first?”

I nodded then pulled back, “I’ll tell you…but you have to promise me one thing. Don’t tell Aura, she’s hurting enough from the loss of her family and friends from the attack on Crimson Canyon.”

“I can, at least for now. I’ll tell her when I have to, but for now I don’t want her to worry about me or doing something stupid. Please, I need the others to not be worrying about me.”

She wiped away a tear then nodded, “Fine, as long as you warn us first…don’t just wander off in the middle of the night…okay.”

“Okay, now lets get back to the others, looks like they’re waiting for us.”

I took in a deep breath then let it out slowly, “I have to head to Los Alicorn and soon. While I’m gone I need some of you to help keep an eye on what’s going on around here. The Red Talons are in shambles, The Steel Rangers are making trouble for a lot of ponies and so are The Romans. Doorstop I’m sure you and the others want to get back to Frosty Summit to help Violet, but shit’s hitting the fan around here and the ponies here need help. Solstice I’m not sure what your plan is, but if you can, I want you to head to Freedom and find where The Shadow Talons are and let them know where we went. Talk to Vi, she’s in charge of them while Aura’s away.”

“Aura’s new Talon group,” Wingnut said returning to the group with Byte and Aura.

I sighed, “Yes, now please listen,” I looked at Thundercracker, “I’m not sure what you plan on doing, but if you can, I need you to find the rest of The Sins and see if you can help us take care of them. Maybe get a message to Nightshade and let him know to send a team down to take them out.”

“I’m sure you’d be a lot of help, but I need you here more than anything,” I said then before he could protest more I looked at my Uncle, “If you’re up to it, I need you to come with us to keep an eye on Mom.”

“I wouldn’t leave you again even if you begged me to,” he said with a frown.

“I don’t want to make you Byte, but you’re under my care, and I need you with me.”

“Too fucking bad, I’ll go to Freedom and stay with the Griffons if I have to, but I’m not going with those monsters!” she said angrily.

“Listen, you’re heading to a place that I’d love to see, but at the same time, it’s dangerous. Byte and I would be safer with The Shadow Talons rather than going to Los Alicorn,” he said.

Aura nodded, “I agree with them, I’d hate if something bad happened to them. Los Alicorn is a very bad place for young ponies or young anything to be. Don’t worry, we’ll be back sooner than later, my sisters will keep them safe, and they can take charge of my contract with Wingnut while I’m gone.”

Byte moved closer to me, the look of anger fading as she said, “I know you want to keep me with you because of Rusty. I just can’t be around either of them right now.”

She cut me off, “I know that you think that Pride isn’t bad and maybe he’s different now because of you, but at the moment I can’t do it, I won’t do it.”

They were right, deep down I knew it. I was close to losing myself to Aquila and traveling with me was the last place they should be, but Wingnut had been with me for so long now that it hurt to just let him go off on his own. Byte I didn’t know as well, but I felt like she was my responsibility because of what I promised Rusty. In the end I nodded, “I understand, you two can go with Solstice.”

“Yeah, I will,” she said walking back to Wingnut sitting near him before looking back at us, “You stay safe too.”

“Looks like we are,” Doorstop said, “We’ll head out now, and you make sure you come back to us in one piece.”

As he flew off Wingnut came back over to me and pulled the three memory orbs out of his saddle bags, “I almost forgot to give these to you. What did you need them for?”

I took them all and put them into my saddle bags with a smile, “Mom can keep denying me all she wants, but she can’t deny memory orbs. I had a feeling something would happen that would keep me from getting her into the bunker, that’s why I had you get these three.”

I pulled him into a hug doing my best to hold back the emotions welling up inside, “Yeah kiddo, I will. You stay safe and keep an eye on Byte okay?”

He ran back to where Solstice and Byte were waiting, I watched him go remembering the first time I met the colt. He’d grown up so much in the past two months, I was lucky to have him as a friend. I sniffed and whispered, “I love you Wingnut, I hope you’ll forgive me one day.”

Ten minutes later Oricalcos, Wind Thrasher, Aura, my tied-up mother, myself, and for some reason Thundercracker were all in the Skycarriage. Stardust hooked up to it taking off and headed west. As we flew I turned toward Thundercracker and asked, “So your with us because?”

“You said to look for The Sins and I will,” he said, “They’re heading west too, I’m only with you for a little bit then I’ll head out my own way.”

We flew in silence for a while before I finally asked, “Thundercracker, how’d you become a sin?”

He looked over at my uncle who was still in his pony form then shrugged, “I stole something.”

Oricalcos laughed, “You didn’t just steal something, you stole a prototype gem from Stratus.”

“Oricalcos, I’m not Pride anymore Thundercracker,” my uncle said with a bit of sarcasm.

Aura looked at him and asked, “What did you steal that would make you a Sin?”

“My shield, I heard from a contact of mine while I was visiting Stratus about a new kind of tech. I wanted it so I broke into the research lab and stole it,” he said like it was just walk in the park.

My uncle answered, “The gem is embedded into his body. They wanted to kill him to get it back, but if he died the gem would’ve been useless. Since it’s part of him now, if he dies the gem dies as well. I heard about what he did and knew he’d make a good addition to The Sins…I was wrong.”

“You’re hurting my feelings Pri…I mean Oricalcos, I was a good solider,” Thundercracker said.

“No, I was born and raised in Thunderhead, it’s a cloud city near Hoofington. Nasty place to live if you ask me and not at all fun. I didn’t like it there so I moved to Stratus.”

Oricalcos laughed again, “He was running away from the ponies there too. Stole something from a pony with lots of connections from what I heard.”

“I didn’t steal anything from that fat slob apart from his daughters’ heart, all three of them truth be told,” he said winking at me.

“No…I’m a gentlecolt that knows what he wants and always gets it,” Thundercracker said then his smile faded, “Not always I guess…”

I saw him look up at my uncle and knew he had to be remembering Silver’s last moments. I reached out to put a hoof on his, but he pulled away as I started to say, “Thundercracker, what happened to Silver wasn’t…”

“This is my stop,” he said getting to his hooves, “I’ll get a message to you when I find The Sins,” he opened the door and flew away.

We watched him fly away a little confused, Aura saying, “Guess he doesn’t like to talk about his emotions.”

Oricalcos sighed, “He used to not care at all, but I think he took the death of that mare-friend of Shadow’s hard.”

I felt a small stab in my heart as he said that, “Silver’s death was hard on all of us Uncle Ori. Honestly, I still have trouble with that fact that you killed her…for no reason at all apart from wanting to hurt a pony you hated at the time.”

Oricalcos’s body flickered into shadow and back again as he looked down at his hooves, “I have a lot of mistakes and evil to make up for Shadow.”

I felt anger building up, an anger that I’ve been trying to keep locked away ever since I found out who Oricalcos was. I was so desperate to know more about myself and I needed his help, but now… “Why did you have to kill her?”

Aura moved closer to me and put a talon around me, “Now isn’t the time to talk about this Shadow.”

I couldn’t help the anger that built up inside of me as I pulled away, “Then when is it a good time huh? There’s always some new bullshit to deal with,” I looked back at my Uncle pushing past Aura, “You WANTED to? Is that how far into darkness you’ve fallen? So far that killing makes you happy?”

He looked up at me and the pain I could see in his purple eyes made me pause, “Every day I have to fight the darkness inside of me Star. When I first took on this form to keep myself from death after I hurt you it was easy, but over the years I’ve had a harder time fighting it. But to answer your question yes killing makes me happy, and I hate that. Ever since Grim left Stable 28 and told me you died, I had nothing left to live for, nothing to keep me from falling further into darkness. All I could do with my life is help my sister to pay back what I did to you. I thought that power I used on you ended up killing you. I let myself grow more evil and didn’t care what it was doing to my soul. So, yes, I killed Silver because I wanted to. I liked watching her bleed out, loved the sound of her begging me to leave you alone. I didn’t care about anything anymore, not until you nearly destroyed me and I found out who you really were.”

I stood up and yelled, “Even before you thought I died you still killed ponies for no other reason than to make Mom’s job easier. You killed Byte’s mom, you killed Enclave ponies to keep her safe, you have done Goddesses knows how many evil things and for what? You even tried to kill Stardust in Stable 97 when he was already better!”

Oricalcos got to his hooves too and shadows exploded out of him as he yelled, “I KNOW, I can’t always control myself even though I try so hard to keep it back! Why do you think I’m doing this Star!? I’m doing everything I can to make up for my mistakes. Even though I know no matter what I do, I’ll never be able to. Don’t you dare pull that high horse bullshit on me, when you’ve done just as many evil things as I have.”

It was like he just slapped me in the face, Aura glared over at my Uncle as he melted back into his pony form, “You didn’t need to go there Oricalcos.”

“No…he’s right,” I said as I felt my anger fading away, “I have no right to judge him for what he did when I’ve done things just as bad, at least he has an excuse, I just did what I did out of anger.”

Oricalcos seemed to calm himself as he said, “No, both of us have done bad things. I’m not trying to hurt you, but you and I both need to make up for what we’ve done wrong in life.”

I nodded saying, “I still can’t forgive you for what you did to her Uncle Ori, but I can try to get past it…I’ve been trying.”

Wind Thrasher finally spoke up, “Why does so much death have to happen in The Wasteland?”

My uncle sighed again, “Because The Wasteland is a living thing, or at least that’s what some believe. They say that when Equestria died, The Wasteland took over, a creature that pushes its way into all parts of our world. It loves watching ponies suffer, likes watching them try to overcome the pain and in the end The Wasteland always wins.”

Wind Thrasher fluttered her wings at that as Stardust said, “Living thing or not, I’ll never let The Wasteland win with me or any of my friends.”

Oricalcos looked back through the small window that looked out at Stardust, “You’re still young Stardust, one day you’ll see that you can’t win against The Wasteland.”

Aura rolled her eyes and reached over to pull me into her lap holding me close to her, “It’s all about how you live the life you’re given I say. I could die tomorrow and I’d be fine with it, because I found the other half of my soul.”

I couldn’t help laughing a little as I nuzzled into her, “Only you can come up with something so sad and sweet at the same time.”

She shrugged, “I’m just sick of all this sad talk and anger. We have a long flight why not talk about happy things. Like what did you see in the memory orbs?”

“Fine,” Aura said looking at Wind Thrasher, “What did you two see Wind Thrasher?”

Wind Thrasher looked over at me for a long moment. I gave her a small shake of the head before nuzzling back into Aura. Finally, she said, “It was mostly things from Grim’s past, I think she wanted Shadow to understand what happened to her and why she had to save her. From what I saw, she didn’t have a happy life.”

“I think the happiest I saw my sister was when she was with Nightshade and when Star was born,” Oricalcos said smiling, “I still remember the day Star was born, I’ve never seen so much joy in my life. We had a nasty childhood, all she ever wanted was to be a wife and mother so she could be a better mother than our own. She also wanted a stallion that was a great father. She was lucky enough to have both.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you Uncle Ori, did Dad always hate you or was that only after I was hurt?”

“Why? I mean I can’t figure out why Dad would hate you so much, at least before I was hurt,” I asked.

“It’s been like that for a long time and not just with your father or uncle. Our two families have hated each other ever since our ancestor Dwarf Star died,” he said.

“A little, well at least what I picked up in one of the memories. Dad’s descended from Night Stalker,” I said.

Aura’s talons dropped as she said, “Wait a minute, you mean that Shadow’s…”

“That’s right, she’s descended from three of the Children of the Night. Minuette on our side, Night Stalker and Lightning Dust on the other.”

“That’s so…strange,” Wind Thrasher said, “You always think you’ll never meet anypony with famous ancestors.”

Oricalcos shrugged, “Life’s funny like that, but still it’s beside the point right now. A long time ago when Dwarf Star was getting old and his magic was starting to fade, he was working with the son of Nightingale.”

To my surprise Aura answered, “She’s Night Stalkers youngest foal and only daughter.”

“Tonto told me once, I guess she came to The Red Talons a few months after her father died, well vanished but same thing at this point. She was trying to work something out with The Red Talons, it didn’t go far though, but that’s how I know. From what he told me, she was a very well-respected mare who even Greta’s son liked even if she was Enclave.”

Oricalcos continued, “Yes, well as far as I know from what Grim was able to learn, Nightingale was the second pony to take over as the Guardian, the first was the Zebra who was a Child of the Night. She passed on her role as Guardian to her son and he was working with Dwarf Star. Dwarf Star had a Daughter called Ebony Star who fell in love with this Stallion who was named Night Rain. Dwarf Star didn’t like it so he confronted Nightingale, telling her to keep her son away from his daughter. To this day no pony knows what happened, but Dwarf Star ended up fighting with Nightingale and at some point, Night Rain came in during the fight, he ended up killing Dwarf Star then he threw his body into the street. Not long after Ebony Star took revenge for her father’s death and she killed Nightingale and Night Rain during a performance that was taking place in The Crystal Empire at the time. Our families have hated each other ever since. That is until Striker started seeing Grim and later Nightshade. They never saw Grim as being part of our family and always treated her well, but Nightshade and Striker still hated me saying I was just like the rest of our family,” Oricalcos said.

“I agree, though in the end I still lived up to what Nightshade thought about me,” he said with a sigh.

I took a long moment to take that all in. To think that the families of The Children ended up killing and hating each other years after the war ended. Finally, I said, “I wonder why that all had to happen.”

Oricalcos shrugged, “The Children of the Night fell apart after the Enclave started. One of their own betrayed Night Stalker right before the megaspells went off and again many years later. That last betrayal led to Night Stalker becoming a Dashite.”

Oricalcos answered, “She’s talking about the curse on The Children of the Night and their decedents.”

“Yes and no, it’s hard to explain, Grim knows more about it than I do. But many years before the war ended, a traitor to Equestria was hunted down by The Children of the Night in his home. He used a crystal given to him by a Zebra witchdoctor, and used it to put a spell on all of The Children. After he did, bad things started happening to them,” Oricalcos said.

“That’s the one,” Oricalcos said, “That same night the first of them fell, Phoenix Heart. Later they lost more to attacks, a month before the war ended Amethyst Star was murdered in Canterlot by a zebra sympathizer. After that Minuette went a little crazy and stole a bunch of the Memory orbs The Children of the Night had made of themselves, then she up and vanished three days before the bombs fell. Night Stalker’s sister was killed during the attack on Las Pegasus, once The Enclave was formed he chased off Rainbow Dash then a young mare named Scootaloo starting The Dashite Program. Griffonstone was destroyed and because of that he lost his closest friend Greta. Later Babseed was killed by Greta. Thunderlane died a little bit before Night Stalker vanished. The story is that Greta threw him into a vat of Taint. Honestly, I think only one of them lived a relatively normal life and that was Cloudy Nights. She lived to be ninety-three and had like six kids and lots of grandkids.”

“Mom always said that our own family still suffered from the curse,” Aura added, “I told you about that before Shadow, how I was worried about being with you because I didn’t want to lose you like I did with Trip Wire.”

I thought back to the night I finally told Aura how I felt and about her family’s curse, “So this has been affecting every one of the decedents?”

“The ones I know about yes,” Oricalcos said, “Though that’s not saying much since the only decedents I know about is our own, Nightshade, Striker, The Bloodtalon’s, and Winter Frost.”

That one made me lift my head to look over at my uncle, “Wait Sergeant Winter Frost? The asshole who attacked me at The F&F Tool Factory and again in Frosty Summit?”

“The very same, he’s the last decedent of Thunderlane,” he said then he added, “Oh right and a mare named Fairy Glitter who lives in Stratus. She’s descended from Cloudy Nights. If there are more I don’t know about them, I know Babseed had a son, but after her death he went into hiding and I never found what happened to him or if he had any kids.”

I was still lost knowing that Winter Frost was descended from The Children of the Night. While I took in that information, Wind Thrasher asked, “How do you know so much about them Oricalcos?”

“I was one of the ponies who helped Grim research them. It’s honestly not that hard to find information about who was descended from whom, at least in The Enclave,” he said.

For a few minutes we all sat in silence then the other pony he said caught my attention, “Fairy Glitter?”

“Yeah, but how did you know that…Oh right you’ve been getting help from Solstice, she must have told you,” he said.

He looked at me just as confused as I was, “She’s Fairy Glitter’s daughter, she’s married to a retired officer named Cascade.”

My eyes went wide, “Fairy Glitter is Solstices mom? But Fairy Glitter is Doorstops sister. Holy shit!”

My friends all looked over at me, Wind Thrasher asking, “I didn’t even know that Doorstop had a sister, how’d you know about that?”

“That was the mare I sent the letter to for him,” I said, “No wonder Doorstop and Solstice seem to get along so well and they both have an in your face attitude, they’re related. I wonder if Solstice knows, I wonder if Doorstop knows.”

Aura pulled me closer to her again, “Don’t worry about it right now Shadow, I’m sure if Doorstop does know and if he hasn’t told her then he wants it kept secret.”

“Ow, would you stop grabbing me like that Aura,” I said, “You’re being more clingy than usual. Talons hurt.”

I looked back up at her realizing I was trapped and just submitted, “But what if he doesn’t know?”

“Doorstop said he kept in contact with ponies on the outside when he was in Stable 97,” Wind Thrasher said, “I’m sure he knows about Solstice.”

Oricalcos shrugged, “I don’t know much about Doorstop honestly, I knew that Fairy Glitter had a brother, but never learned much about him. Though seeing how Fairy Glitter has access to highly top-secret things going on in Stratus and Nimbus, I wouldn’t be surprised if she put him in Stable 97. For what reason I’m not sure, but she has the clearance to do so.”

“He told me something about that, he said his sister wanted him to keep an eye on her friend Dr. Limbus who was the mare who created the Memory Modification Pods. They’re friends, or at least that’s what Doorstop said.”

Oricalcos took a moment to think about that, “Maybe, but I can’t see a stallion giving up twenty years of his life to keep an eye on his sisters friend. No, it doesn’t make sense, there has to be another reason he was part of The Devil’s Children Program.”

I knew we weren’t going to get anywhere right now with Doorstop since he wasn’t here at the moment so I decided to change the subject, “Speaking of that program…”

Stardust shouted from the front of the Skycarriage, “I’d like to never speak of that again if we could manage it. I still get nightmares of my brain being practically microwaved.”

“I know Stardust, but I just need to know something,” I yelled before looking back at my Uncle, “When did Dr. Stormy come up with that program, it had to be before she joined The Ministry.”

“Yeah, I saw her in a few of my mother’s memory orbs when I was in the bunker. They seemed really close,” I said looking over at the bench where mom was still sleeping and tied up.

“They were, Stormy was one of Grim’s oldest friends. As to when she started the Program well…I’d say it started about twenty-three years ago. She had this wild idea to modify a pony’s DNA to make them stronger and faster than your average pony. The higher ups in both cloud cities liked the idea because for many years we’ve had trouble with Neighvarro. Having soldiers that were enhanced would be a big plus for us. Sadly, her first and only subject to undergo the treatment was a failure.”

“Yes, this was a few years before I became Pride. Sloth was everything they wanted, but he had a big draw back. He burnt through so much energy it took a while for his body to make it back up,” Oricalcos said, “So she went back to the drawing board and came up with a different way of making the perfect super solider.”

“Yeah,” Oricalcos said, “It was her idea, but how it was executed was mostly the council. The first step was we needed a safe place to keep the foals, so Stable 97 was invaded.”

“Yes, and before you ask, no I wasn’t part of that. I still worked with military research at the time. Anyway, yes, The Enclave killed most of the ponies and the rest escaped. We modified the Stable to meet our needs then we engineered an…Epidemic…for both cloud cities and surface cities. We took new born foals saying they were sick and died later during treatment. Those were the first ponies to become the new inhabitants of Stable 97. The first couple years we mostly just raised them like normal foals.”

Stardust laughed, “Normal my ass, we started learning how to fight when we were two.”

Oricalcos rolled his eyes, “Relatively normal then, but as I was saying, The Enclave raised them to think they were born there. Later they all went through intense training and mental stimulation to make sure we got the perfect soldiers. A few years later, the so-called epidemic hit again, and more foals joined the first set.”

“What I don’t get is how Stormy could have even started a program so horrible,” I said.

Oricalcos laughed a little, “If you saw Stormy in your mother’s memories then you only saw one side of her. She’s always been a mare who wanted to better the lives of The Enclave and ponies in general, but in her own special way. When she was around Grim, she was more laid back, happy, and sarcastic. When she was working she was a pony with one thing in mind, get the job done. She’s all about results, always has been. Take The Sins for example.”

“Wait a minute,” Aura said, “You mean this Stormy pony, created The Sins?”

“No I created The Sins, she just had the idea of a special ops team and used it to keep me from being banished when I couldn’t be killed. I expanded on the idea and made my team. The first pony I had join me was Sloth. Back then he was being held at a facility where he was kept drugged so he wouldn’t hurt anypony.”

“Funny, for some reason I always thought Envy was the first sin you added to the team,” I said.

He chuckled, “No, Envy came along a couple years later. Sloth and Gluttony were my first sins then Envy, later came Wrath, then Greed, and last was Lust.”

Gluttony, I hadn’t thought about that monster in a long time, “Why did you make Gluttony a sin? What could he have done to make him into one?”

My uncle’s face fell a little, “I didn’t want him to die. You see, I’ve known Gluttony since I was around your age Star.”

My jaw dropped open and Aura said, “You were friends with that monster even back then?”

He nodded, “He wasn’t always that way. Before he was a sin, he was one of the most respected scientists in Nimbus. One day one of his own experiments went wrong and he ended up like you saw him. He was always hungry and his intelligence fell by ninety-five percent. He had enough left to plant the gem into his tongue though, it was one of his own experiments and it made it so he could eat just about anything. Then he attacked…and ate his entire research team.”

“Yeah, they wanted to kill him because of what he became. He was my friend and I didn’t want to see him die, so I made him a sin. He still knew who I was and he always listened to me. So as long as I could control him, the Council was fine with it,” he said.

He shrugged, “Yeah, when Sloth found me and told me that he attacked you, I went looking for him. When I saw what you did to him, I lost all control over my emotions. Though now I’ve had time to think, I think it’s a better thing for him to be put out of his misery. Even though most of his brain was mush, he still remembered that he used to be one of the smartest ponies in The Enclave. He hated being called stupid because of that.”

Thinking back to that day I remembered something, I used my Pip-Buck to find the recording I took from Gluttony and pulled it out, “I found this on him when he died, though I’ve never listened to it. Wrath had a recording too, the one of his daughter. Do all The Sins have one?”

“I was wondering where that went,” he said, “To answer your question, yes, well almost yes. Mine was destroyed when you blew up Appleton and Envy doesn’t have one since I raised him as a Sin. It’s a reminder of what you used to be. Mine was a Recording of my confession to The Council for hurting you.”

“Star I don’t think you need my permission to listen to it, honestly I was a little surprised that you told me you hadn’t listen to it yet.”

I nodded then started to play it. It started out with the voice I remembered from Gluttony, only slightly less annoying, “This is Dr. Jowls and today I’ll be documenting some interesting things I’ve found in a virus sent over to me by a colleague of mine from Thunderhead. According to his findings, this virus can affect ponies in a way that makes them revert to their most basic survival instincts. An example of this is eating another pony’s flesh. The odd thing I found was that it doesn’t seem to work on Pegasi. It’s a good thing for us if we ever wanted to wipe out the lesser races of Equestria, but still highly dangerous. As I’ve experimented with this virus’ biology, I’ve found that if you alter some of the strands on its DNA, it can affect pegasi. My discovery is still in its earlier stages, but I have a feeling that if I were to send this information back to Thunderhead, my colleague would find a way to use it against the cloud cities. So, I must do everything I can to make sure that this never falls into his hooves. I’ve tested it on a couple of ponies already and the results are terrifying, gruesome even. If he ever wants to utilize this to work for our race, then he’ll have to figure it out on his own. I will not be responsible for killing my home. I’ll be presenting my successes to the council when I’m finished today. Maybe I’ll have Oricalcos check it out first, see if magic affects the Virus…”

The Recording ended and I looked over at my uncle, “He showed you this…Virus?”

He nodded, “I had just started being Pride, but I still helped out with research when I could. I told him to destroy it and I thought he would, but something happened and he was exposed.”

Aura gave him a funny look, “This Virus sounds like something that affects the raiders in Hoofington. Over the last year more and more raiders have been showing up around there and they’re way crazier than the ones we’re used to.”

Oricalcos nodded again, “I’ve had the same thought, I wouldn’t be surprised if the pony he was talking about was trying to make his virus work again, even after all these years.”

Before any of us could say anything else, Mom jumped and looked around, then her eyes fell on me and she started yelling, “Let me go!”

I just rolled my eyes as Oricalcos said, “Quiet down Grim, there’s nothing you can do right now.”

She turned her head as much as she could, “Pride, how dare you let her tie me up like this. I’m your sister, you are supposed to help me, not this pain in the ass!”

He sighed, “I am helping you sis, you just can’t seem to get over your hatred.”

Mom opened her muzzle to yell again when Wind Thrasher moved closer to her and bore her fangs, “Listen to me Grimoire, you’re lucky that none of us killed you back there. Now I know you don’t want to believe Shadow or your own brother about who she is, but right now you aren’t in your right mind. They want to help you and I respect that, but if you don’t stop yelling and saying horrible things about my friend, I will rip your throat out. Now shut up and get over yourself.”

Mom’s eyes went wide at the sight of Wind Thrasher large fangs only a few inches away. She gulped then said in a quieter voice, “Fine, but you’ll all pay for this, mark my words.”

I couldn’t help chuckling a little, “Trust me Grim, when we have time I’ll show you the truth, even if you fight me all the way.”

Stardust yelled back at us, “Hey Shadow, it’s getting late and I’m tired, you good with stopping to take like a catnap or something?”

I moved to the window that overlooked the driver, “Sure, but we’re in the middle of nowhere, I’m not really fond of sleeping in a place so vulnerable.”

He started to turn the Skycarriage as he said, “There’s what looks like an old motel down there. We’ll use that for shelter.”

“A motel around here?” I asked looking out the window again to see a small building sitting right next to a huge crack in the ground, “What the hell is that?”

My uncle looked out the window ignoring his glaring sister then said, “That’s the San Palomino Gorge, it used to be a famous place for ponies to visit before the war.”

“I’d hate to fall into that thing,” I said as Stardust flew over the black crack in Equus’s crust.

I just rolled my eyes and ignored her as Stardust landed the Skycarriage. We all got out, Oricalcos carrying mom in his magic. As he did I asked, “I noticed that you’re able to keep yourself in your pony form now.”

He smiled a little as Stardust went to see if the small motel was safe, “I’m still not as strong as I used to be, but I can stay like this now. I won’t have to hide in your shadow anymore.”

“It’s nice to actually be seen,” he said, “Okay Sis let’s get you to bed.”

“Fuck you Pride,” Mom said as she struggled in her brother’s magical grip.

Aura laughed and poked Mom as they started walking toward the motel, “Oh look, the mean old Cloak is cranky, she needs a nap.”

“The place is clear, but only one room is in good condition to hunker down, we’re going to have to share,” Stardust yelled.

“That’s fine, we won’t be here long,” I said as I started to follow my Uncle and Aura.

“Shadow,” Wind Thrasher said putting a hoof on my shoulder to stop me, “We need to talk.”

I sighed and looked back at her, “Wind Thrasher I know what you’re going to say and please don’t.”

“Then don’t be, I already told you that I’m not going to do anything unless I have to.”

She stood her ground, “Shadow, you’ve lied to us before. How can I trust that you won’t go off in the middle of the night and do what your mom said to get rid of Aquila?”

I pulled her closer and hugged her then whispered into her ear, “You’re going to have to trust me.”

She didn’t hug me back as she said, “That’s the problem…I don’t trust you. I know you too well, you’ll lie to us so we won’t worry, but you can’t do that anymore. Think about Aura and Wingnut, think about your uncle and your dad, even your mom. You know what Vervain would say if she saw what we did in those memories.”

I didn’t let her go as I said quieter, “That’s the thing, I am thinking about them…I’m thinking about everypony in Equestria.”

She pulled away from me shaking her head, “No, you’re just scared…here I thought you were brave, someone that could stand up to anything, but you’re just a fucking coward.”

I sighed and let the comment roll off me, “No…I just see the bigger picture,” I turned toward the motel, “I’m not giving up Wind Thrasher, if I was I would’ve already done it. I’m just being practical, if I can’t fix myself soon, then it has to happen.”

She followed me as we made our way to the door that Stardust was holding open for us. The moment we walked in rain started to fall and soon we were drenched. I shook my mane as we finally got into the small room hoping that Wind Thrasher would keep her muzzle shut. As Stardust shut the door he asked, “What were you two talking about?”

I looked over at Wind Thrasher for a moment as she sighed and said, “Nothing.”

I turned away and looked around the small room, “Well at least we can stay dry in here, but let’s get some light, it’s way too dark for my liking.”

As I walked past mom she chuckled, “Oh, is the little Courier scared of the Dark? There’s probably not even electricity here.”

I ignored her and walked over to a lamp sitting on the far night stand. Hopefully this place had some kind of power still. I could just make out the lamp in the dark. It reminded me of the one I saw in the fiend town outside of Stable 9. A creature I’ve only seen in books was holding onto a light bulb in his paw giving me a wicked grin. I tried to use my magic to pull the chain, but it sparked and fizzled, “Fucking magic.”

“It’s not your magic Star, the gorge messes with Unicorn magic. It’s normal around here,” Oricalcos said.

Right as I touched the lamp and started to pull on the chain a mischievous voice echoed out of the lamp, “Pip’s and Jack’s, Chaos or Order, you’ll have to follow the signs to find the land of ponies, and free yourself from a land a mystery and Bibbidi…Boddidi…oh and don’t forget about BOO!” the voice made me jump right as I pulled down on the chain…and everything vanished…

[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]

NEW PERK ADDED!

Gallop N’ Gun: Wow, it took you a long time to get this talented with a gun. While levitating a ranged weapon in your magic, your weapon spread is halved even when walking or running.

QUEST PERK ADDED!

Wild Wasteland Rank 2: Wait...there’s a rank 2? Does it just get weirder?

Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 52: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road