“Are you saying that you believe me?”

The sound of water dripping onto rock slowly filled my ears as I pulled myself back to consciousness. The next thing that came was pain, running up my back, neck, and shoulders. It was like somepony took a whip to my bare back. What happened to me? Why did I hurt so much and where was I? Where’s Aura? I tried to lift my head then almost screamed as agony ran down my spine and neck. I settled back into whatever I was laying on. After a moment the pain turned into a dull throb. Finally, I risked opening my eyes to find out where I was, then I could figure out what was going on.

When I did, I was met with a slightly red tint to my sight. Did I hurt my eyes too? Then it came back to me, mom falling into the gorge, me trying to save her then slipping in myself only to be grabbed by Aura. She was trying to pull me up when I saw the bloodwing trying to attack her. I forced her to let me go to save her life. Mom and I fell into the black abyss of the San Palomino Gorge. How in Luna’s holy hell was I still alive? Moving my head slowly so not to aggravate whatever was wrong with my neck and back, I saw what happened and I also understood at the same time why I saw a red tint to everything. I was still wearing my goggles and mask. The reason I was still alive from what I could tell was because of a large area of stretchy vines surrounding me almost like a spider web.

Over me I saw a hole in the tangle of vines where my body slammed through, slowing my fall until finally stopping me here. Looking up through the hole, I couldn’t even make out where the top of the gorge was. Another spike of pain ran through my body and I closed my eyes for a moment. When it passed, I groaned then opened my eyes again. I needed a healing potion at the very least, I had no idea if it would help or what was wrong with me, but I had to do something. I was hurt badly, and I had no idea if help was coming. I took in a deep breath then tried to use my magic to pull one out of my saddle bags. Nothing happened, my horn didn’t even spark or light up, I couldn’t even feel the flow of magic coursing though my body. I felt like panicking for a moment, thinking I broke something inside myself making my magic not work, until I remembered Uncle Ori saying something about the gorge messing with unicorn magic.

There was only one way I was going to get what I needed out of my saddle bags, this is going to hurt. I took in a few more deep breaths then moved my hoof down toward my saddle bags trying my best not to scream as my body protested…and mostly failing. It took a minute, but finally I felt a bottle and pulled it out. I looked at it to make sure I got what I needed, well it wasn’t a healing potion, it was a restoration potion. This might be better in the long run, restoration potions concentrated on the worst parts of an injury rather than affecting the whole body at once. They cost five times as much as a healing potion for that reason alone and Aura always told me to use them sparingly. Well right now, I needed one. I pulled the mask off my muzzle and slowly drank the potion down.

Right away I felt the pain in my back and neck fade, it wasn’t gone, but I felt like I could move without too much trouble. Slowly I lifted myself up and looked around. Right away I saw that the ground was only a few feet under me. A stretch of moss, odd looking plant life, and bare rock met my gaze. There was a small trickle of water running down the middle of the area I was in. I groaned again then rolled off the bed of vines I was laying on and fell to the ground. I screamed again as my bruised body hit the ground then slowly I got back to my hooves and turned on my Pip-Light. My goggles were amazing and I could see pretty well in most kinds of darkness, but even they had their limits. My light helped cut through the darkness around me.

It was then that I remembered the other pony who fell with me. My eyes went wide as I started to look around for Mom. Maybe if I survived that fall, she did too. “Grim?” I said, calling out to see if she landed anywhere near me.

For a moment all I heard was my voice echoing off the rocks around me, then I heard a pained moan followed by my mother saying, “Over…here.”

I turned toward the voice and saw her hanging from a few vines not far from where I landed. Her rear hooves were tangled in the vines and her head was a few inches from the ground. Blood was slowly dripping from the top of her head near her left eye. I limped closer and asked, “You okay?”

Her eyes opened more, “I’m alive…that’s about all I can say. I can’t believe either of us survived that fall.”

“Same here…let me help you down,” I said reaching up to try pulling her down.

“I’d tell you it’s because you’re my mom and no matter how fucked up your head is right now I still care about you, but you’d just say something hurtful or sarcastic, maybe both. So, let’s just say that if I want to get out of here, I’m going to need your help,” I said as the vines finally gave and she fell to the ground.

She tried to get up, then cursed and sat back down, wincing as she held her rear left leg out at an odd angle. “I think I broke my leg,” she said looking up at me.

I moved closer to her then hesitated. “I can look it over, but you have to promise you won’t try anything.”

She hissed a little like she was feeling a rush of pain in her before saying slowly, “I’m hurt, lost in a dark gorge, and in a lot of pain. I’m not going to do anything. I need you as much as you need me right now. Please tell me you at least know a little bit about how to set a broken leg.”

“Nope, not at all. Aura’s our medic, I’m just the pony that shoots things or blows shit up. Don’t worry though, I know you have medical training, you can walk me through it,” I said as I moved closer to check over her leg.

She chuckled a little then winced in pain again, saying, “Great, I ended up with an optimist and a fool, I feel so safe now.”

“Fine, but first you’re going to have to cut away part of my combat armor,” she said.

“You threw it into that bloodwing, then it fell down here with us, I’m sure it landed nearby. See if you can find it, if not then we’re going to have to try getting me out of this armor,” she said laying down and breathing slowly.

Dammit, I guess she had a point, so I turned and started to look for the body of the bloodwing. I moved back toward the vines where I landed and started looking around. The bloodwing had gone right over me as I fell, Mom fell to my right so it should be around… “AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” I jumped, backing up from the face of a bloodwing glaring right at me. Then I noticed it was hanging upside down tangled in the vines not far from where I landed. Also, it had Misery jammed through its eye.

I took in a deep breath then let it out slowly. “Fucking hate those things,” I said as I moved closer and took hold of the grip and pulled it out.

I trotted back saying around Misery’s grip, “Let’s just say coming face to face with a dead bloodwing in the dark is just as scary as finding a live one.”

“Yeah, though I’m trying to figure out how to do this without my magic,” I said as I moved to sit next to her broken leg.

“Be careful and don’t slice my leg off. I still can’t believe how sharp that thing is. It’s not easy to just stab a bloodwing in the head, they have thick sculls,” Mom said as I moved Misery down and slid it under the leg of her combat armor.

“To be fair, I did get it right in the eye. Also, it’s one of Greta’s swords, I found it,” I said as I used the sharp side to slice the leg of her combat armor open.

“I thought Misery and its sister Joy were lost,” Mom said as I pulled Misery back to set it down and then pushed the sliced armor up looking over her leg, using my Pip-Light to help me see better. “Well I can say that it’s not a compound fracture.”

“I thought you didn’t know anything about medical stuff? Also, where the hell did you find Misery? Do you have Joy too?” Mom asked.

I sighed. “No I don’t, I found Misery in the Absent Ruins, and I don’t know medical stuff, but I do know what a compound fracture is. I did listen to a little of what you tried to teach me as a kid.”

“Not enough apparently,” she said with a grumble. “Anyway, talking about weapons isn’t going to get us out of here. Use your hoof to check along my leg, see if any part of it is swollen. If so, then feel along that area to see if you feel bone under the skin that’s separated, then it’s a full break. If you find swelling but can’t feel anything else then it’s either a hairline fracture or a bad sprain.”

I followed her instructions. “Okay, I found swelling near your fetlock, but I can’t feel separated bone…I think.”

Mom closed her eyes and did her best to hold back a shout of pain as I checked. When I pulled my hooves away she took in a few deep breaths then said, “It’s most likely a hairline fracture then. In my saddle bags I have a med kit.”

She pulled up her own Pip-Buck and used it to select something, then she reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a med kit and gave it to me. I took it asking, “Okay, what do I need to do?”

“Inject Med-X into my leg, after that use the medical brace. That will keep my leg safe so we can start moving,” Mom said.

It took me about fifteen minutes to help Mom get her leg taken care of, then I had to help her with the nasty cut to her head. Once that was done she insisted on checking me over too, saying that she couldn’t have me passing out because of some internal injury while we moved.

As she looked me over and after I’d removed my own barding I asked, “How are we even going to get out of here anyway? I don’t think either of us can climb that far? Also, if we move from this spot my friends won’t be able to find us if they decide to come looking.”

She put something over some cuts on my back as she said, “Nopony is coming for us Courier.”

“Ow!” I said as she applied another…something…to my back. “I know my friends, they’ll come looking for me.”

She sighed. “What I mean is, they can’t. My brother can’t even enter this place without his body vanishing and your flyer friends can’t come here either because the gorge has violent updrafts and downdrafts, they wouldn’t even get an eighth of the way down here without being slammed into a wall and dying.”

I looked back at her, wide eyed. “So, you’re saying we’re stuck down here?”

She sighed then got up slowly. “I’m saying that if we want to get out, we have to look for a way to do so ourselves. The San Palomino Gorge is huge and deep, before the war, ponies weren’t ever able to explore it. Even now it’s still mostly unexplored. Magic doesn’t work here, flyers can’t get down here without risking death, and climbing down is just as dangerous because a good amount of the rock here is jagged and sharp.”

“Then how are we going to get out? I mean there has to be a way. Can’t you use your zebra power crap to get us out of here?” I asked.

“Why not?” I asked, “You said it messes with Unicorn magic not zebra magic.”

She sighed and rubbed her temple saying, “You insist that you’re my daughter, yet you have no idea how my power works.”

I rolled my eyes. “You never taught me about it when I was little. I knew you could do it, but when I asked how it worked while we were in the stable, you told me I wouldn’t understand until I was older.”

She cocked her head at me. “Huh, to be honest that does sound like something I’d say. I still don’t believe you, but…I believe that you believe I’m your mother.”

“Yeah, yeah, anyway back to why you can’t use your power,” I said with a wave of my hoof.

She sat, keeping her bad leg stretched out to one side. “The best way to explain it is this. Ponies can’t use true zebra magic, in all honestly, so-called zebra magic isn’t really magic.”

“There isn’t a word for it in our language, they call it Usha. What Usha does is simple yet complex at the same time. Zebras have the ability to take power from Equus itself. When tectonic plates shift deep in our planet it makes an immense amount of power. A trained zebra can take that power and transfer it into an object like a gem or other items, then force that power to do what they want. Their witchdoctors can even pull that same energy into themselves, making them very powerful. They use that power to change the world around them. To ponies, what they can do is magic, but in reality it’s not the same thing,” she explained.

“I think I see what you mean, unicorns like us use the energy from our bodies to cast spells. Some unicorns have more energy for magic in them than others. I remember you teaching me that when I was very young, you said that if that energy is used up, then unicorns start to pull power from their life force,” I said.

She smiled a little, it was odd to see that smile without any hatred in it. “You’re right, that’s why a unicorn can die if they use too much power.”

“So, what do you do then?” I asked, “I’ve heard you say that you aren’t a powerful spell caster, but I’ve seen you do amazing things.”

She looked over at me. “I’m not a powerful spell caster. Most of what I can do are tricks. I know a lot of spells yes, I can perform thousands of spells, but I don’t have a lot of magical energy. That’s why I started looking into the zebras. It took me a year to conclude that nopony can ever do what they do. There’s something different in a zebra’s genetics that make it impossible, even a zony can’t use their power. Only a full-blooded zebra with training can. So, I found a shortcut. What I do is use my own magic to form the circles needed by zebras to pull the kind of energy I need from Equus, then I use that to fuel my spells. Doing this I can perform spells that were impossible for me and many other unicorns and I can keep doing it for far longer than any unicorn.”

I nodded in understanding. “So, without your unicorn magic, you can’t do anything?”

“That’s right, I can draw the symbols and glyphs, I can even chant the words needed for zebras to make their power work, but still it wont work,” she said with a sigh. “I can’t believe I’m telling you all of this. The drugs must be getting to me.”

I nodded. “Yeah, all thirty-seven of them. I just finished watching them when Greed…I mean Thundercracker showed up.”

She was quiet for a few moments then she looked over at me asking, “If that’s true, tell me one of the worst ones you saw, something you believe I wouldn’t let anyone know about.”

I looked over at her and said in a quiet voice, “The day you killed Quartz, your father.”

Her eyes went wide and I saw her shaking a little. “My brother didn’t tell you about that did he?”

“Unless you told him everything that happened that night then I don’t see how he could’ve. He showed up at the end right after you killed your dad,” I said even quieter.

At first, I wanted to say no, because I didn’t even want to think about that night and I’m sure she didn’t either. Then I decided that I’d have to, because from what I could tell, I was getting through to her…finally. “Okay…but it won’t be easy, I had to relive that moment inside your body,” I said, then I started to tell her everything that happened, everything I saw, what I felt, how scared I was just by watching that orb.

When I finished I could see a haunted look in her eyes. “I never told Ori what all happened that night. I think he knew, but I never told him the whole story.”

She shook her head. “Some things I never told him, like how that wasn’t the first time my father did that to me.”

I felt sick at the very thought of any parent doing that to their own child. “He…raped you?”

“Kind of, he never fully…you know…but he did use to come into my room. He would…lay with me and run his hooves over my body, calling me his little play…” she stopped talking her eyes tearing up. “I don’t want to talk about it…especially with you.”

“In all honesty I don’t think I should hear it…but…I’m willing to listen if you ever want to talk. I don’t care if you’re my enemy or not, nopony should have to go through that alone. Even if it did happen a long time ago,” I said.

She gave me a look of utter confusion. “You know that when we’re out of this, I’ll most likely try to kill you again right? Yet you still want to help me?”

“Yes, I do. Deep down I can tell that you’re good, just misguided. Just like I know that Uncle Ori has good inside him too. You want somepony to listen to you, to care about you even if it’s a pathetic unicorn like me,” I said with a small smile.

“I don’t feel like I have any good left inside of me. I haven’t for a long time now, ever since I lost…okay…ever since I thought I lost my daughter which I still believe that I did. Still, after everything I had to do to try and save my Star, I gave up everything I had. I became a monster to fix her, fix the damage I did by letting Aquila out, the lies I told to get where I am, and the ponies I helped get more powerful who would use that power to destroy our world. The more I try to help the worse I seem to get,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“A wise mare once told me, that everypony has good and evil inside of them. Some let darkness take over their light, but they will always have that other part inside them, no matter how small it is,” I said, trying not to tear up. Why is it when your mom cries, you instinctively cry along with her? Is it something ingrained in genes that makes you empathize no matter what the situation might be?

She laughed again. “That was a quote from my great, great, grandfather Dwarf Star’s journal. He said that everypony can be saved, no matter how evil they get.”

“He was referring to Night Stalker, he said that the old pegasus came to him right before he was banished and asked him for his help to destroy the damage he did to Equestria,” Mom said.

“I never heard anything about that,” I said, a bit surprised. “I never even knew Night Stalker met Dwarf Star.”

“He did, many times over the last year he was in The Enclave. My family is one of the few who knows that though. Well us and The Guardian.”

“Yeah, I remembered a week or so ago. I got the memory back when Striker attacked me and tried to kill Dad,” I explained.

I nodded as if it was no big secret. “Yeah, he’s trying to find and destroy Falling Shadows and kill Aquila.”

“Because I sent word to The Steel Rangers in Baltimare when I found out he was going to try to destroy the tower there right after he attacked The Enclave in that area,” she replied.

“Well, somehow he lived, though he took a lot of burns from whatever happened to him,” I said.

“I don’t know why I’m so surprised, that dick has a knack for surviving the impossible, just like Nightshade,” she said with a sigh. “Enough talk, we really should start looking for a way out of here Courier.”

I got up as well. “If we are going to be helping each other for right now, stop calling me Courier…please, call me by my name, Shadow. If you do that I won’t call you mom the whole time we help each other out.”

I shook my head. “Not so much, that’s more Aura and Stardust’s thing, why?”

“I told you before that unicorns and flyers can’t get down here and climbing is too dangerous. Well, Steel Rangers love defying the odds. During the time of Elder Tap from The Hidden Sands Rangers, they used to run things all the way out to Los Alicorn, well at least close to it. Elder Tap was fascinated by this place and had his rangers set up a base close to the edge of his territory. They were the first ponies ever to build a lift that could make it all the way down to the bottom so they could study the gorge. When Elder Apple Jam took over, the base was abandoned and Los Alicorn never thought it was worth it to risk their own Rangers to take over. So, if I’m right, that base should still be there and nopony will be around. With luck, the lift will still work and we can use it to get to the top,” she said with a grin.

“Wait, you literally just said this gorge was never explored…how do you know about that?” I asked.

She laughed, “I said ‘mostly’ unexplored, I used to be friends with Elder Apple Jam and he told me about it. Elder Appleslice too, though she said there’s no reason to ever go back to it. I know Elder Appleslice well and to this day I know she wouldn’t ever send her own ponies here, Elder Wolfsbane isn’t foolish enough either.”

“Um, you do realize that Elder Appleslice is dead right? A new mare named Sapphire Stone runs Hidden Sands now,” I asked.

She looked utterly shocked. “What? The last time I checked Sapphire was just a paladin.”

“She made Star Paladin over a year ago, I don’t know how she got power over Sandstorm and Noodle Cup, but she did. She runs things now, that’s why the Rangers have been so active over the past couple of weeks,” I said, wondering how she could be so out of date with her information. I though The Enclave kept tabs on every large faction in The Wasteland.

“So, Elder Tap’s great granddaughter took over…if that’s true then we should hurry. If she’s anything like him, she’ll send ponies there and use it to keep an eye on Los Alicorn,” she said turning to put on her ruined combat armor. “Let’s get moving Shadow, we have a few kilometers to walk and the sooner we get out of here, the better.”

“How much further do we have to go?” I asked as we climbed over yet another bolder blocking our path. Over the past ten hours Mom and I had only gone about a kilometer or so. The Gorge was full of pit falls, irradiated water, plant life we had to cut through with Misery, and fallen rocks all blocking the path. Mom was having an even harder time than I was. Her leg wasn’t doing well even with the splint on. She already used the other two syringes of Med-X she had in her med kit and started needing my small supply of them. If she kept this up she was risking addiction or her heart giving out because of the chems.

“I’m not sure, we fell in by the old motel. The last time I saw the base it was ten kilometers from there, closer to Los Alicorn. At this pace it could take us a few days to reach it,” she said, breathing heavily from fatigue.

I helped pull her to the top of the boulder then took a few moments to rest. “If we keep running into these obstacles I can see what you mean. With how bad your leg is, I don’t think you can wait days.”

She shook her head. “No, if the break is as bad as I think it is, then I’ll risk my leg healing wrong. I need a doctor to set it properly before I can heal it.”

“Maybe we should rest for a while, it seems safe up here,” I said, noticing that the boulder we were on was big enough for us to set up a small camp.

“Maybe you’re right,” she said getting back up and pulling a bedroll out of her saddle bags. “Though I’m worried that if we don’t get there soon, we’ll run out of drinkable water. I don’t have much left in my canteen.”

“I have two full ones myself,” I said, pulling one out and tossing it to her. “I just hope it can help get us by.”

I pulled up my Mark II and started to see if I could get the broadcaster to find anything. I’ve been trying this for hours now, but with no luck. “Damn, still nothing.”

“I’m sure you won’t get a signal until we’re closer to the base. Even the Mark II can’t get through the interference down here,” Mom said as she ate a snack cake and drank a little of her water.

She finished her cake then said, “Because fighting will only slow us down, simple as that. I want to get out of here and I need you. Being nice is the only way I can keep us from fighting.”

I sighed then laid back on my bedroll. “Damn, and here I thought it was because you were starting to like me.”

She laid down as well, saying, “Truth be told, as a pony I don’t think you’re that bad Shadow. Just in the past few hours of traveling with you I can tell that you’re a smart mare, you like to know things too which makes you a bit of a busybody, but you also seem to catch onto things fast too. If you didn’t have that monster inside of you or had my Mark II, I would find you rather intriguing.”

I snorted a laugh. “Me, smart? You must’ve hit your head harder than I thought.”

“I mean it. It’s not often I run into a pony who can deal with the things you have and still keep their mind intact. I’ve also seen how you’re able to figure out magic and twist it to work for you. I can also see you thinking all the time even when you’re being spoken to. If you’d have grown up in The Crystal Empire, I’m sure you would’ve been one of the top students to come out of the magic school there. That is, if you had somepony to teach you,” she explained, making me feel a bit better about some of the dumb decisions I’ve made in the past.

“Still I doubt that, most of what I’ve been able to do is just luck,” I said modestly.

She shrugged. “Maybe a little of it is, but I’ve seen you figure your way out of things that most ponies can’t. Hell, you killed some of The Sins, you snuck into Mill City Tower and destroyed it. It takes a strong mind to do the things you’ve done.”

“Thank you…I guess,” I said, still surprised at how nice she was being. It was almost like I had my real mother back, but older and speaking to me like an adult rather than a child.

She smiled. “Don’t expect me to keep being so kind when we’re out of here though.”

I looked down at my hooves letting my right one slowly run over the polished surface of the Mark II. “You’re considered a smart mare, right?”

“Then why didn’t you just try to talk to me and ask for my help instead of trying to capture or kill me? Especially when I found out who you were, even if you didn’t believe me?” I asked, letting the question that’d been digging around my head finally come out.

“Come on!” I yelled. “That’s a bunch of horse apples. If you really had Envy watching me for as long as you did, you know I would’ve listened to you, at least if you tried to talk to me that is. So why didn’t you just at least sit down and talk instead of trying to capture me?”

Her voice got quiet, “That there was a small chance that you were telling me the truth. If that was the case, then I couldn’t live with myself if I was wrong all this time.”

That hit me in the gut. “So, you’d rather risk me hating you or dying, just so you didn’t have to face the fact that you were ‘possibly’ wrong about something?”

She looked up at me. “Do you know what it’s like to think that somepony you loved with all your heart is dead, only to find out that it was a lie? To find out that you have done unspeakable things because of that death and then later find out it was all a lie?” she asked.

I glared over at her and said, “Yeah I do, because for the ten years I lived in Stable 28 and a little after, I didn’t know anything about my past because you blocked my memories. Even worse, I thought my father was dead. All because you made sure to keep that information from me. So yeah, I do understand, but I was able to push through my pride and anger to make things better. That’s why I’m still working with Uncle Ori even after he killed so many ponies, even sompony I cared about.”

“He told me about that, he said that he was trying to make it up to you for her death. Though I just thought he was letting you fool him into thinking he is your uncle,” she said.

I looked over at her for a long moment then used my Mark II to find one of the recordings she left for me. The one she left with the memory orbs, then I tossed it at her. “Here, listen to that. Maybe once you do, you’ll stop being so stubborn and start believing me.”

“A recording you left for me with three memory orbs, only my Mark II could decrypt it because you set it up that way. Since I did listen to it, you should be able to now. Listen to it and tell me you still don’t believe me in the morning…good night Grim,” I said before turning my back on her.

She didn’t say anything, I started to close my eyes so I could get a little sleep. After a few minutes as I was finally fading into sleep, I heard the recording start…

I’m glad you were able to get this recording from Lonely Hearts, he really is a good pony. Well, synth, but still you never know if somepony will do what you ask them to. Anyway, before I ramble. First off, I hope you’re doing okay out here, I know how hard it is to understand how things work in The Wasteland and putting you through all this breaks my heart.

As Mom listened to the recording she left for me five years ago with Lonely Hearts, I fell asleep, not even caring if she tried to do something to me while I slept…

The next day Mom didn’t say anything to me about the recording, but she started talking to me more about her life when she was young. She also stopped saying things like I can’t believe you about who you are, but she still didn’t show any signs of knowing me or believing me either. But I knew that right now she was starting to rethink some things. After we got off the boulder and started moving again, the path got a lot easier to travel. In two hours, we managed to go another four kilometers and I was getting hopeful that we would find our way out soon.

She looked over at me as we slowly made our way up a slope. “What about her?”

She blinked at me then blushed a little. “Why would you ask something like that? Especially since you believe what you do about me? It’s kind of a strange question to come up out of the blue.”

“Because I saw you two sleeping in the same bed a week after Striker left you in an orb,” I said as I moved around a jagged rock sticking out of the ground, Mom following closer to me since I could see better in this gloom because of my goggles. Her Pip-Light was on just like mine, but it only helped so much.

“I…I am not, my leg just hurts right now and the Med-X is making my body hot,” she argued with a huff.

“Do you do this to your friends? Ask them who they did or didn’t sleep around with?” Mom asked.

“All the time,” I said with a laugh. “Hell, they bug me about sleeping with Aura. Then I usually make fun of Cookie Byte for secretly liking Wingnut.”

“I still can’t figure out why you like a griffon. That’s so weird,” she remarked.

“Don’t change the subject to the kinky and hot relationship I have with a badass griffon. I can already tell you did something with her apart from that one kiss she gave you in the clouds,” I teased again.

“You’re impossible!” she yelled, pushing past me. “I’m not talking about this with you.”

“Okay fine, have it your way. I’ll just have to let my imagination go wild,” I said as I followed her.

A few minutes passed as the landscape flattened out and the walk started getting easier again. Finally, she said, “I didn’t…sleep with her in the way your thinking okay. Just one night I drank a lot. I had been out with Stormy and Nightshade…”

“Yes, now stop interrupting me or I’m not saying anything even if you do assume the worst,” she said.

She sighed again and continued, “Anyway, I was so drunk that I couldn’t tell up from down or what color my bedsheets were. Nightshade and Stormy had to carry me home. As was normal back then, I started crying over Striker again and Stormy came to comfort me. A couple hours later when Stormy fell asleep I started thinking to myself that maybe I should let Stormy have her way finally because at least I knew she loved me. So I…” Mom stopped and blushed harder. “So I started kissing her belly and other areas. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, I’d never been with a mare or even wanted to be.”

“No way, so you mean you went down on Stormy!? Bet she liked that when she woke up,” I said.

“I tried to, even managed to find the right spot through my drunken haze. Stormy woke up and she wasn’t happy, not at all. She pushed me off her, and I tried to kiss her on the muzzle saying I wanted her,” Mom elaborated.

She nodded. “She did, she slapped me then forced me to look into her eyes. Once I was able to stop crying and begging her to just let me do it, she said this to me, ‘I love you Grim, but I’m not going to let you do this while your too drunk to think straight. If I was ever lucky enough to have you fall for me, I don’t want it to happen when you’re drunk. Now go to sleep and if you feel the same when you’re sober then we can talk, and only talk.’ Then she got out of bed and went to her own room.”

“Stormy was a good friend, she knew that I would’ve hated myself the next day. I know that deep down she would’ve loved to be with me even for one night. But she also would’ve hated herself for letting me do it,” she explained.

“She made me call Nightshade and ask him to go for a walk with me. She knew I needed somepony more than her, honestly she was the reason I later married him,” she replied.

I felt a twist in my heart as she told me that story, because I took away that wonderful friend. “Sometimes I find it hard to believe she was the same mare who started The Devil’s Children’s Program.”

“What that program became wasn’t what Stormy wanted when she came up with the idea,” Mom said.

She nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, the way the foals were raised and all is what she wanted and what she planned, but she didn’t like the isolation from The Enclave. She never wanted them put in a stable or taken from their parents. She wanted to give orphans a purpose in life.”

“Somepony in Stratus made the council decide to put it there, they chose to kill the inhabitants. They wanted foals from certain families taken and forced Stormy to run the whole thing. If she didn’t she would’ve been kicked out of
The Enclave, so Stormy did what she always has. She treated it like a job and did what she had to. She let herself sink into her work and ignored the moral wrongs that place served,” Mom said, looking around a curve in the path before walking around it.

“She was, but only because she let herself be like that. Though I’m sure deep down she hated what she was doing,” Mom explained.

She shrugged. “No idea, though I’m sure Nightshade has an idea on who it was. Ever since he found out about the program, he worked to stop it.”

That caught me off guard, “You mean, Nightshade’s dad was the one who attacked that stable?”

“Yeah, he was a horrible stallion. Loved fighting and killing lesser races,” Mom said. “I wasn’t sad to hear about his death, but his mother, that hurt almost as much as losing Striker did.”

We walked in silence for a little while, finally I asked her, “You’re rather talkative about your past, why is that?”

She didn’t respond right away and when she did her answer came out slowly, like she was thinking carefully on how she answered, “I’m not sure, maybe because you seem to know a lot about my past already so there’s no need to hide anything from you. It could also be that nopony has asked me about my past for a long time. At least not somepony who cared about what I had to say. Also, for some reason I find it easy to talk with you.”

“Blood calls to blood,” I said as we came to a small pool of water. Both of us stopped and looked down at it. The pool was so still, it was like somepony placed a large mirror on the ground. When the lights from our Pip-Bucks hit the pool, it reflected back and small diamonds like crystals lit up all over the rocks around us. Both of us looked around in awe as the we found ourselves in a sea of artificial stars. “It’s beautiful.”

Mom nodded saying, “Yes…yes, it is. It almost reminds me of being up in Nimbus during a new moon.”

Both of us sat down and just looked up at the twinkling lights. After some time passed I said, “If I never got sick and grew up in The Crystal Empire, I would’ve been able to go up to Nimbus and see the real thing too. I wish I would’ve been able to do that, I really do.”

I heard Mom sniff and I looked over at her. My jaw almost dropped open as I saw tears running down her face, her face screwed up in utter sadness as she looked up at the lights. She noticed me looking at her, then she tried to dry her tears saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything about The Crystal Empire or who I know or believe I am,” I said looking away.

“Shadow…I know you believe you are my daughter. From what I heard in that message it would make it seem that you are. I’m having a hard time believing it as you know, I still don’t want to believe it,” she said, still choking a bit.

“I get it, because you know deep down that your Little Star couldn’t have grown up to be a mare like me,” I said with a sigh.

“There is that, but now that I’ve had time to calm down from my anger at you and get to know you. I realized that I’m not the same mare I was when I was young either. I forget that The Wasteland can change a pony. For the past few months I’ve let my anger and sorrow control me and because of that, I’ve been very stubborn,” she said.

She chuckled a little. “Heavens no, but I also can’t rule out the possibility that you might be who you say you are. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if I can find a way to prove it was true, then I will believe you.”

I felt a tear running down my own face as I said, “That’s a lot better than I was expecting and I may have just the thing to show you who I am.”

“When we get out of here then tell me, for now let’s get moving. As much as I’d love to look up at the beauty of this cavern, we can’t stay here forever,” she said as we got up and were on our way again.

A couple more hours passed without a word uttered between us. We’d traveled another couple of kilometers now and I had a feeling we had to be getting close to where this Steel Ranger lift was. For the past half an hour, Mom kept a few meters in front of me, using her Pip-Light to illuminate the way. As she did she’d been humming the same tune to herself. Finally, I broke the silence between us.

She stopped her humming looking back at me. “It’s a song the farm ponies in The Crystal Empire used to sing. It is a sad song, but also one of endearment.”

She smiled a little. “The Enclave outlawed it fifty years ago. Said it gave ponies ideas of rebellion, though I’m not sure why. Even though it’s outlawed, you’d still hear it from time to time if you lived near the wall, like I did. Would you like to hear it?”

“Sure,” I said, not really sure I did, but it was better than her not talking.

She finished and blushed a little. “I guess it’s more of a poem rather than a song, but I’ve always liked it.”

“The meaning is in the words themselves. The Enclave rule pegasi over all the other races of pony kind, just like King Sombra did. No matter how much you try, you can’t ever be as high up the social ranks as a pegasus. The ponies who live where I grew up are seen as only for labor and not much else. We were spat on and laughed at because to them we meant nothing. You can feel The Reaper Pony, or death nipping at your hooves with every day that passes. At times you’d wish that death would just come and take you away from the life you have. Some ponies see that song as a call to stand up to the way life is in The Enclave and change it,” she said.

“I think I can understand, though as bad of a life as it might be growing up where you did in The Crystal Empire, The Wasteland is still worse,” I said.

“In most ways yes, but at the same time it’s not. The Wasteland is scary and dangerous yes, but a pony can still be free out here,” Mom responded.

She smiled knowingly. “True, but still, at least there’s a chance. The Enclave may seem like it’s an easy life to ponies who didn’t grow up there, but in reality, it’s a prison to pony kind.”

She smiled a little looking back at me again. “Who ever said I truly went back? I thought of all ponies you would’ve figured it out. I don’t care what The Enclave or anypony thinks. No, the only pony I truly follow is The Director.”

She rounded on me saying quietly, “I mean it, shhhhh, I see light coming from around the corner.”

Slowly I peeked around the corner as well and saw a dim light coming from down a skinny cavern and around another bend. “Why would there be light all the way down here?” I asked.

Mom checked her Pip-Buck then looked back at me. “The only explanation I can think of, is that we’re close to the base. That’s what it looks like from my map, but what I don’t understand is why there are lights down here at all. The base has been abandoned for thirty years.”

“Well, we aren’t going to find out anything if we just sit around here,” I said, pushing past her and heading down the small space.

“We don’t know if anypony is down there. We need to come up with a plan before we do anything rash,” Mom said putting a hoof on my shoulder.

I pulled away with a small chuckle. “Plans are stupid and normally lead to something bad. So, we’re going to risk it.”

“Shadow, you can’t be serious. Do you know how stupid that sounds?” she asked.

I moved the rest of the way down the hall as mom tried to keep up. I got to the other corner and rounded it quickly to find…nothing. Well not nothing per say, but nopony was down in the small lit-up cavern. Huge industrial lights were set into the cavernous opening filling the space with bright white light. So bright in fact that I had to remove my goggles. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust but when they did, I was sure we must’ve found what we were looking for.

Set against the wall between the two lights were rails for some kind of lift. A terminal was set into a metal platform just at the end of it. Walking closer mom said, “Shut up Shadow.”

I couldn’t help a big grin as she walked past. “Why, because I was right?”

She started typing at the terminal saying, “We still haven’t gotten up to the base yet.”

“Sure, but you said it was abandoned. I’m sure we’re fine,” I said as I trotted over to her, looking around the cavern to make sure nopony was around. It was fun to tease Mom for her paranoia, but that didn’t mean that nopony was around.

“If this place was abandoned then the lights wouldn’t still be working,” Mom said as she continued to work on the terminal.

“Why not? My stable still had a lot of power and they ran for two hundred years and are still going strong,” I said.

“Stables use magic generators and have a complicated system to keep them going. It’s one reason stables need to have ponies to maintain them. The Steel Rangers haven’t been here for thirty years. That means thirty years of nopony fixing and maintaining the power systems here,” Mom said.

“If that’s the case then how did you expect the lift to work to get us up there?” I asked.

She sighed. “There’s a separate power source that can run this lift. I have a few gems in my bag that can be used to make it work. But we won’t need that because the base is working again. I just hope that there’s just some Wastelanders up there who took over the place while The Steel Rangers were away.”

I cocked my head. “How are Wastelanders any better than Steel Rangers? We’ll be breaking into their home to get out, I’m sure they won’t like that very much.”

“Wastelanders are a lot easier to kill than Steel Rangers,” Mom said, then she hit the side of the terminal with a hoof. “Damn thing.”

“Wait a sec, we aren’t going to just go up there and kill random ponies,” I said.

She turned to look at me. “Why not? They’ll just be in our way and I don’t feel like dealing with ponies who get in my way. You should know that by now.”

I pushed her away from the terminal. “No, we aren’t going to just go up there and start shooting or killing ponies. We can talk to them first, we’ll only attack if they give us a reason to.”

She was glaring at me. “IS that your plan Courier? You know that if they’re raiders or fiends, they’ll shoot first and not care who you are.”

“Oh, so it’s Courier again huh? Guess your nice side decided to go on a vacation,” I said angrily.

“I just want to get out of this place! I don’t like being without my magic for this LONG!” she exclaimed.

I snorted. “Even when we get up there, MOM, you still have a magic blocking ring on. Or have you forgotten that technically you’re my prisoner!?”

She looked ready to hit me, then she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “Fine, I’m really not in the mood for this and you’re right. Forgive me…Shadow.”

“Oh look, Grim’s back, nice to see you again,” I said turning toward the terminal. “So what’s the problem with this?”

“Oh, shut up,” Mom said, coming to stand next to me. “I can’t seem to hack past the terminal’s security.”

“Hmmm. Guess we’re lucky I’m here huh?” I said connecting the Mark II to the terminal. The Mark II didn’t even ask me to do anything, it just unlocked the terminal. “Huh, guess the security on this thing wasn’t that bad.”

Mom just rolled her eyes. “Whatever, get a weapon ready and let’s get up there. Get your broadcaster ready, once we’re in the base you should be able to call for backup.”

“Um…where’s the lift?” I asked, “And who am I going to call? My friends don’t have Pip-Bucks, broadcasters, or a radio.”

She pushed a button next to the lift and from far above I heard a bang then a grinding sound echoed down to us, “The lift is up there, we need to wait for it. As for who to call, I don’t know. I know you won’t call my team even though they would be a big help at the moment. So I hope you know somepony else who can find your friends.”

I took a few minutes to think about it as the lift slowly came down the rails. When it came to a halt in front of us, I stepped on with Mom as I thought about who I could call that would be able to find my friends. Mom hit a switch on the platform itself and with a shudder it slowly started to go up. Then it came to me, there was one pony who could help us.

“Grim, we need help and he’s the only pony who can get to them fast enough,” I argued.

“Shadow, I can’t have him find me. He wants me dead,” she said, sounding scared.

“No, he wants to help you get better. He still loves you,” I said, “Now tell me which channel I can use to get a hold of him.”

She looked away. “I can’t believe that, I just can’t. If he did, he wouldn’t have stayed behind. He wouldn’t have hunted me down for so many years trying to stop me from completing my mission.”

The lift was halfway up as I said, “Fine, I’ll just broadcast to every Enclave channel until I find him. Though, I’m sure that will be more dangerous than just talking to Nightshade.”

I started to lift my Pip-Buck then Mom said, “Fine, but…promise me he won’t do anything to me.”

She took in a deep breath then said, “The Broadcast channel you need is the one for the High Council pony’s chambers. It’s Skyforce Gamma 888797, you’re Pip-Buck should be strong enough to find it.”

We were almost to the top now, I could see the edge of the Gorge getting close along with a small metal building that slightly hung over the edge. I looked back at my Pip-Buck’s Broadcast channels.

She looked over at my Pip-Buck. “It’s a hidden Broadcast, normally only broadcasters with the proper coding can find them. Your Pip-Buck however can find them as well, you just need to do this.”

She fiddled with an option I never saw before, once she clicked it two more stations showed up.

“Holy shit, I had no idea there were hidden channels on the broadcast system. What’s the first one?” I asked.

“It’s direct access to the officers in Stratus, now hurry up and call Nightshade before I lose my nerve to let you,” she replied.

The lift came to a stop in front of two massive metal doors. As it did I clicked on the channel Mom told me about and said into it, “Does anypony read me? This is Courier Shadow Star.”

It only took a second for my Dad’s voice to echo out of my Pip-Buck, “SHADOW! You’re alive!?”

“I was monitoring you when you fell into the gorge, I’m with your friends….” he was cut off by the sound of someone ripping the broadcaster away from him.

“Shadow, are you okay? Where are you? Is that BITCH still with you?” Aura yelled into the broadcaster.

“I’m fine, Mom’s fine too, we’ve been working together to get out of the Gorge,” I replied.

I heard shuffling and a few protests from Aura until Dad got the receiver back and said into the broadcaster, “We’re a couple kilometers north of where you fell in. Are you still in the gorge?”

“No, well not really. We just used a lift that The Steel Rangers built a long time ago,” I started to say then Dad cut me off.

“FUCK!” Dad shouted. “We’re on our way, we’re only a few kilometers away. Shadow, you and your mother need to get out of there. The Steel Rangers…”

As he spoke the doors to the base opened and two Steel Rangers in full power armor stepped out, pointing huge guns at both Mom and I. I slowly started to lower my Pip-Buck saying, “Yeah, I noticed. Hope you can get here soon. Good luck,” then I cut off the broadcast.

“Don’t move, you’re trespassing on property of The Hidden Sands Steel Rangers!” a voice I haven’t heard in a long time said from inside the base, then none other than Watts floated out between the two rangers, aiming a flamethrower at me.

Mom was shaking as she looked at the two rangers and the Mr. Gutsy. I started to laugh. “Hey Watts, long time no see.”

Watts floated out more as one of the rangers asked, “How did you get on our LIFT!?”

“Ms. Shadow Star? Do my old cameras deceive me? By Celestia, it is you!” he said, floating over to me and lowering his flamethrower arm then saying to the others. “Stand down Knights it’s the Courier herself, huzzah!”

“Watts she’s not one of us and she’s wanted for crimes against The Steel Rangers,” the other ranger said.

Watts turned around and looked at them both. “That is incorrect Knight Sprinkles. She attacked Elder Wolfsbane’s chapter of The Steel Rangers after she was attacked by them.”

Both Rangers didn’t back down, the first one who spoke before, a mare said, “She’s being blamed for killing Sentinel Box Tape Watts, now stand down before I have Senior Scribe Hazel power you down.”

Now that got to me, I pulled out my sword and held it in my muzzle. I could feel my horn starting to get magic back to it now that we were outside of the gorge, but it was still weak. “Oh fuck both of you, I had nothing to do with the death of Box Tape, that was Wolfsbane!”

The mare turned toward me and yelled, “Oh yeah? Sure, this coming from a pony who blew up Appleton and a tower in Enclave territory. Now drop your weapons before I blow your fucking head off Courier!”

“Big words from a pony who followed a mare like Sapphire! She killed your last Elder. Did you know that?” I asked.

“How DARE you say something so despicable about our Elder!” the stallion yelled.

Fuck both of them, I started to move, lifting Misery in my muzzle when Hazel stepped out yelling, “All of you STAND DOWN!”

I did and same for the two rangers. Mom didn’t even move, she looked like she was ready to bolt. The Mare looked back at her saying, “Ma’am, she’s wanted for crimes against…”

“I know, but we also don’t really know who killed Box Tape. Now stand down so we can all talk like ponies, not raiders,” Hazel said, then she looked over at Mom and I. “Long time no see Grim, glad to see you’re still alive.”

Mom was looking at the cute orange mare for a moment before she said, “Junior Scribe Hazel?”

“Senior Scribe now,” Hazel said before looking at me. “Hey Shadow, why don’t you come inside and we can all talk. I promise that we won’t do anything to you and you can leave as soon as we get some answers.”

She smiled. “Because, I have no reason to lie to you. If I was your enemy, I’d just kill you.”

I looked back at Mom, then at Hazel. “Okay, but I’m not giving you my weapons.”

“So, it’s as Elder Sapphire thought. Wolfsbane was the one who killed Box Tape,” Hazel said as we sat at a small table near the front of the base.

I just finished telling her about the attack on Cartwheel and how Box Tape died, also about what happened with The Red Talons and how we ended up in the gorge. Mom throwing in a little here and there. So far Hazel hadn’t said a word about my Mark II, why Appleslice died, or the filly I knew they were looking for. She just told her two Knights to wait for her in the other room with Watts and oddly enough Glimmer Shot, from my old stable. I got a quick look at the former security mare before I was shuffled into this room.

“The Red Talons helped us after Cartwheel fell. Then a week later they fell because of the Unchained Talons,” I said, “I had nothing to do with Box Tape’s death, he was like a grandfather to me.”

“We figured as much, but Sapphire wasn’t sure after what she’s been hearing about you as of late. Word reached us not long ago about what happened in The Twin Cities. It was hard to believe that you did that,” Hazel said.

“Yes, I was quite surprised by that too,” Mom said, “I knew she was crazy, but not that crazy.”

I huffed. “I thought the griffon I loved was killed by one of them. So, I lost it a little, I feel bad for it at least.”

Hazel just looked at me for a moment, then deciding that whatever she was going to say wasn’t worth it, she looked back at Mom, “So I see Shadow found you Grim. I guess the rumors about you working with The Enclave weren’t true then. I’m glad to see you’re still in one piece and reunited with your daughter at last.”

Hazel looked confused, so I threw in, “She doesn’t remember me Hazel, it’s a long story.”

She looked sad. “I can understand, I mean you don’t look anything like Morning Star. I didn’t even know who you really were until after Stable 28. Sapphire told me who your mother was on our way back from that.”

I sighed and said, “Still, it doesn’t matter right now. I’m glad you didn’t let your Knights shoot us and all Hazel, but I really don’t have time to sit here and talk. My friends are on their way right now and they think I’m in danger since you’re here.”

She looked confused again. “Why would you be in danger? You’ve always been a friend of The Steel Rangers.”

“That’s what I don’t understand, you said to my Knights that Elder Sapphire killed our former Elder. That’s a big accusation to make,” she said.

“I found her body along with her guard outside of Cartwheel just before the attack. She’d been dead for a week and her body was hung from a rock with traitor carved into her body. I would’ve thought Wolfsbane did it, but when I broke into his terminal, he left notes saying he couldn’t find her and was worried something happened to Elder Appleslice. It’s also strange that the youngest Star Paladin took over as Elder then kicked Sandstorm out,” I said.

“Normally yes, but Sandstorm wasn’t a good choice to take over. Star Paladin Noodle Cup backed Sapphire saying we needed young blood to take over. We all got behind her when she took charge when Appleslice didn’t come back. She’s not a bad pony Shadow. I couldn’t see her hurting Appleslice, she looked up to the former Elder,” Hazel said.

“When I knew Sapphire, she was always a mare trying to work her way up the ranks as quick as she could,” Mom said, mostly as an afterthought.

I sighed. “Either way, I don’t trust her. Not until I find out why she’s hunting the other Mark II and what she had to do with Elder Appleslice’s death.”

“Maybe you should talk to her before you jump to conclusions Shadow,” Hazel said.

“If I could I would,” I said getting to my hooves. “It was nice to see you again Hazel, but I have to be going.”

She sighed then got to her hooves too. “I understand, still I wish you’d stay for a little while.”

“I wish I could, but I need to get back to my friends before they come here trying to kill everypony and I have to get to Los Alicorn,” I said, turning for the door.

“Why Los Alicorn? Do you know what that place is like!?” Hazel asked with a worried tone. “Wolfsbane will kill you Shadow, we all know what you did to his eye.”

“I know what I’m getting into and it wasn’t me who did that to him, it was his father,” I said, then turned and headed for a hallway that led out of the room. “Grim, don’t run off, I need to use the restroom quick, then we can go. If you run, you’ll never get that horn ring off.”

She just rolled her eyes. “I don’t plan on going anywhere, honestly I’m curious to see what you have planned next Shadow.”

I just nodded then headed for the bathrooms. When I was inside I locked the door, turned on the faucet then looked at myself in the mirror. I looked over my haggard appearance, took in the patches of white mixed into my black coat, the black streaks taking over my silver mane and the burning fire in my eyes. As I looked at myself I said quietly, “Give me two more days…just two more days!”

Ever since I got out of the gorge, my head started pounding. A feeling started coming over me, almost like somepony else was just under my coat. I felt hot and weak, my sight was slightly blurred and every time I moved, it felt like I was walking through mud. As I looked myself over and washed my face, looking back in the mirror I saw Aquila’s reflection instead of my own. “I’ve waited long enough Shadow. You have only a few hours left, a day at most. I’m not giving you any more time. I’m sick of this game!”

I just kept looking at her reflection, then I screamed, “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” Then I started to slam my head into the mirror. Once, twice, three times, until I felt blood flowing down my face. I slammed my head into it again, and again, and again. It just made my head hurt worse, I started to cry as I fell to the ground and curled into a ball.

“Shhh, no need to cry Shadow Star. Soon this will all be over,” Aquila said, “Also, slamming your head into the wall won’t stop me, it will just hurt you. Any damage you do to yourself I can just fix later. Tick tock Shadow…that’s the sound of your life coming to an end.”

For a long moment I just sat there, curled into a ball as I let my tears flow. I wasn’t going to make it to Los Alicorn. I was hoping this whole time that I’d get Mom to believe me and she could fix me like she said in her notes. Aquila knew that, she wasn’t going to let me go when she was so close to what she wanted. I knew what I had to do. Aquila might take over, but I could still use Mom to help me. So, I turned off the water, pulled out a healing potion and drank it down. I looked at myself again in what was left of the shattered mirror seeing myself once again. A little glass was still stuck in my scalp so I pulled I out, cleaned the blood, then headed toward the door.

Mom was waiting for me in the hallway, looking at the far wall. “How much time do you have left?”

I wasn’t surprised by her question, she knew what Aquila was as much as I did, maybe more. “Not long.”

When she looked back at me, I saw something in her eyes I thought I’d never see. She looked at me with sympathy saying, “You’ve been trying to get me to believe you about who you are so I’d help you. Am I right?”

She sighed. “I still don’t know what to think, but I do know that something has to be done about Aquila.”

I felt her put a hoof on my shoulder, looking up I saw her looking down at me. “I’m sorry I can’t give you that. I’m sorry I can’t believe you yet, but after you helped me down there, I owe you my life. Tell me what you need and I’ll help.”

She nodded. “Yeah, maybe you’re right and all I needed to do was just try and talk to you instead of trying to kill you. I just hope that once I help you, you can help me.”

I knew what she wanted me to help with. She wanted to activate Falling Shadows. At this point, I didn’t know what choice was worse, help Mom activate a superweapon after what I’ve seen she’s capable of, or letting Aquila get out. In the end, I knew I had only one choice to make. “Help me get Aquila out of me and I’ll help you with Falling Shadows. I’m not giving you my Pip-Buck, but I’ll use it how you need me to.”

She smiled. “Good, then I’ll need to get back to The Ministry as quick as I can. If you let me go, I can teleport there and get what I need.”

She smiled. “You could say that, if I hurry I can be back in three hours or so. Do you think you can hold out that long?”

“Maybe, if it will help. My friends and I will keep heading toward Los Alicorn. We can meet in the middle,” I said.

I sighed and knowing I was risking a lot in doing this, I reached up and used a gem that Solstice gave me to unlock her horn. It clicked then I pulled it off of her. “Maybe it would be better if I come with you.”

She shook her head. “Aquila is almost ready to take over, the more magic you use, the quicker she’ll get what she wants. I’ll meet you on your way to Los Alicorn, if you all make it to the mountains before I do, I’ll meet you in Pioneer’s Pass. Your griffon friend should know the place.”

We both walked out of the base closely watched by the two Knights from before. As we did I reached into my saddle bags and pulled out the three memory orbs I had Wingnut grab for me and said, “Here, I want you to have these, they should prove what I’m saying is true. Once I’m better I’d like you to watch them.”

I smiled. “They’re yours, just watch them and you’ll understand, once I’m better. Now get out of here, before my friends show up.”

She smiled a little then put them in her saddle bags. “Thanks, I’ll do that. Also, thanks again for taking the time to talk with me and for saving my life. I’m sorry for everything that happened…that is if you can prove what you say is true, if I find out this is one big lie… I will kill you.”

Before I could say anything else, she vanished in a flash of blue light. I sighed and said to myself, “I hope I made the right choice.”

I turned away from the base and looked to east, I could see the Skycarriage in the distance along with my friends. I did my best to smile and started to trot towards them. I had a feeling it was going to take a while to explain to them what happened.

It took over an hour to explain what happened when I fell into the gorge with Mom, how we got out, and why I let her go…kind of. I didn’t tell them how close Aquila was to breaking out. I just told them that she could help me and I was trusting her to do so. All of them were pissed at me for letting her go and for saying I’d help with Falling Shadows. As we argued, we were flying toward the place Mom said we should meet in a few hours. Dad was just as pissed as the rest of them for the risk I took.

After everyone calmed down, Aura was holding me close in the Skycarrage as they told me about what happened while I was gone. From the sound of it, Wind Thrasher was able to hold the bloodwings off while my friends escaped further along the gorge. Once they knew they were going to be okay, they started trying to find a way down, but just as Mom said, none of them could do it. Dad showed up not long after that in his Stranger gear, but even he couldn’t help. For most of the past day they all tried to come to terms with the fact that I was most likely dead.

“We were getting ready to head back to New Pegasus when you’re call came in,” Dad said with his mask pulled off. He was sitting across from me in the Skycarriage while Aura held me close.

We were almost to the location mom told me about now and all I wanted to do was curl up with Aura and hold her just as tight as she was holding me right now, “I’m sorry I scared you all so much.”

“You did what you did to save me Shadow, we all understand,” Aura said kissing my head then nuzzling my mane. She’d been doing this ever since she saw me again. She wasn’t even mad at me after a few minutes.

“Sure, that’s the reason,” Wind Thrasher muttered angrily. She’d been cold toward me ever since she first saw me. My friends couldn’t understand her anger, but I did. She thought I tried to kill myself. She wasn’t going to believe me about why I let myself fall, not for a while.

“Wind Thrasher why else would she have done that?” Stardust asked from where he was hooked up to the Skycarriage.

“It doesn’t matter, everything will be fine in a couple hours,” I said, glaring at Wind Thrasher. “Right Wind Thrasher?”

She glared right back at me, “It will only be better once you stop lying to everypony.”

I was about to say something back to her, when Stardust said, “Let’s not fight right now please. Shadow’s safe and we might…” he hesitated before continuing to speak, “…might have a way to fix her. Let’s just get through tonight and when she’s better, then we can fight over whatever has Wind Thrasher’s tail in such a twist.”

My uncle was sitting on the other side from Dad, he’d been quiet the whole time. Finally, he looked over and said, “Star, you’re not looking good, what’s wrong?”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but Stardust said, “We’re here, I’m going to land in a spot where we can camp.”

Dad looked over at Oricalcos as Stardust started to land. “I’m still confused on why she trusts you Oricalcos, in all rights you should be dead.”

“Oh, don’t start Dad. if you two start fighting, I’m sending you home,” I said.

He looked a little ashamed of himself. “I’m sorry sweetie, it’s just I can’t trust that traitor.”

“It’s okay,” I said as we landed. “Let’s set up camp and eat. For the rest of the day, let’s just forget about our problems and just enjoy each other’s company.”

It took a half hour to set up and eat, once we were finally full and happy sitting around a small fire I looked over at them all and said, “Since Mom’s not here yet, I have an idea. Let’s all tell a story about one of our happiest memories or a dream we have when this is all over.”

I was once again laying against Aura, her talons wrapped around me as I rested. She leaned back saying, “Hmmmm. You know what, that’s a good idea. With all the bad shit we’ve been dealing with, it’d be nice to talk about something cheerful.”

Dad smiled saying, “I’ll start. My happiest memory was the day Shadow was born.”

“I’m serious, I mean I’ve had a lot of happy memories in my life, but nothing was as happy as the day Grim had Shadow,” he said.

“For a while there, you didn’t even know if you’d ever be a father Nightshade,” Oricalcos said.

Dad nodded. “Yes, Grim was pregnant twice before Shadow came along. The first foal we lost just into Grim’s second trimester. The second in the first trimester. Grim and I almost gave up on even trying and even started looking into adoption. It took me three months to even get Grim to listen to me about the idea. Then we got pregnant again, for the first few months we didn’t even try hoping that this one would make it to term. Then Shadow came into our lives. A beautiful filly, a foal that felt like a miracle for us both.”

“I was surprised that she had red eyes,” Oricalcos said with a laugh. “I asked Grim if you really were the father.”

Dad gave my uncle a flat look, then said, “Yes I know, she told me about that.”

Looking over at my dad I asked, “What does me having red eyes have to do with you not being my dad?”

He chuckled. “It’s because you’re the first foal in our family not to have green eyes.”

“Well at least she was able to tell you, I’ve been trying to think of how to bring it up after you’ve been looking into his past,” Dad said.

Stardust chuckled to himself. “Too bad she doesn’t have green eyes, it would have gone well with her coat and mane.”

Oricalcos smiled. “I’m not sure what I’ll be able to do once this is all over, but I’m hoping that I can find a way to fix what I’ve done to myself. I’d like to get my real body back and maybe settle down with somepony.”

My uncle smiled and said, “Once you’ve been stuck as a magical shadow for so many years, that novelty wears off.”

“Weren’t you seeing some mare a few months before Shadow was hurt?” Dad asked.

My uncle shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I was seeing Scarlet per say, but…well let’s just say we had a lot of fun.”

“Ewwwww, I don’t need to hear this,” I said closing my eyes and making gagging noises.

My uncle and dad both laughed. When they finished Wind Thrasher said, “I’d like to try and help ponies when this is all over.”

“I know that,” she said blushing. “What I mean is, I’d like to help ponies who have been through a lot of pain and stress in their lives get past the trauma they’ve experienced.”

“So, you want to be a shrink?” Stardust asked. “I could see you doing that, you already help us out when we’re feeling down.”

“I know that, I’m not stupid. I just prefer shrink,” Stardust said, sticking his tongue out at Aura.

“Easy, I want a nice home for Shadow and I to grow old in,” Aura said simply. “You already know that though, so I’ll go with a happy memory. For me it was the day Tonto first told me the story about The Lover’s Souls. I don’t know why, but that day I sat in his cave with him telling me about the two griffons who loved each other so much that they swore to find each other in every life from then on. It was a beautiful story, if not a little sad in the end.”

“I think I read that in something of his,” I said, “But it was a griffon and a pony.”

“Odd, he always said it was two griffons, though I could see him changing the story a bit to fit Red Talon Law,” Aura said.

“Apart from you two, I’ve never heard of a griffon and a pony being together,” Stardust said.

Dad looked over at him. “It’s not as uncommon as you think, well it didn’t used to be. There are a lot of stories over the centuries of griffons and ponies being in love. Our races have worked together a lot since Equestria was first started. The most famous griffon and pony lovers were rumored to be the first Children of the Night, before Luna was Nightmare Moon.”

“You mean that the first Children of the Night had a griffon in it too?” I asked.

Dad nodded, “Yeah, he joined to be close to the mare he loved. It’s a sad story, but also very sweet.”

Dad smiled as well. “When this is all finished, I’ll tell you all I know.”

Stardust gave us all a smug grin. “Well when this is all finished I plan on finding my family. I want to know who my parents are and see if I have more family. Then I’m going to find a nice mare and settle down one day and have a foal or two.”

As he spoke Wind Thrasher blushed saying quietly, “I think you’d be a great dad Stardust.”

We all started laughing then, Stardust on the other hoof said, “Thank you Wind Thrasher, I happen to agree with you. I’d be an awesome dad.”

I frowned and looked down at my hooves, “I’m…not sure what I want to do when this is all over.”

“Honestly I’ve never thought about it. I’ll just be happy to have all my friends and family around me for the rest of my life. I’d like more days like this, where we can just sit down, talk, laugh and enjoy each other’s company,” I said.

They all looked at me with smiles on their faces, finally dad said, “I think that’s a great vision of the future sweetheart.”

After we talked a little more Dad said, “Grim should’ve been here by now.”

Oricalcos nodded. “I agree, maybe I should go see if I can find her. She’s never been great with direction.”

“No, I’ll be fine, just relax,” Oricalcos said, his body turning into shadows. “I won’t be gone long.”

As he vanished into the oncoming night Aura whispered in my ear, “Shadow, you think we have a little time to slip away?”

I looked around at Stardust, Wind Thrasher, and Dad then whispered back, “Maybe, if we can get our friends to ignore us.”

As we spoke I saw Wind Thrashers ears perk up, she looked over at us for a moment then winked. She raised her voice saying, “So, Nightshade what’s it like living up in Stratus? Stardust and I have never been above the clouds before.”

“That’s right, oh you have no idea how beautiful of a city Stratus is. It’s one of the biggest sky cities in The Enclave,” Dad said looking over at Wind Thrasher.

Aura got up and slowly started to walk away, toward where we parked the Skycarriage. It was tucked back into a small patch of trees to keep it out of sight of any pegasi or griffons flying over. As we both started to sneak away Stardust moved his head to see where we were going then Wind Thrasher pulled his attention away from us by saying, “Wouldn’t it be amazing to see it sometime Stardust?”

“Oh…yeah, I’ve wanted to see it ever since I left my stable,” Stardust replied.

Aura and I were clear, she led me into the skycarriage and once we were in and the door shut she pulled me close, kissing me hard and pinning me against the far wall. Before I knew it, my Duster and my saddle bags were off. I pushed myself against her taking in every kiss as if it was the last one I’d ever get. Our love making was better than it ever has been before. I needed this, more than I think Aura could ever know. It started out fast and hot, full of passion and need, our bodies sweaty, heat filling the Skycarriage and the windows fogging up. Then it turned into something slower, I explored my lovers’ body like I never had before, finding every spot that could make her moan, every place that made her laugh and the places that made her shiver.

Aura was a wonder to me, a creature that was so different yet she felt like I knew every part of her at the same time. I took in every sound she made, every movement of her body, each twitch of her talons, paws or wings. Then when she couldn’t take it anymore, she twisted on me and started doing the same to me. She didn’t have to ask me if I like something or not, my body was hers to do with as she willed. I am hers and she is mine, it was an understanding that went beyond words, beyond our bodies, beyond everything. It was like deep down my soul had been waiting for this griffon to fly into my life and now that she was here, I never wanted to let her go.

That realization was the most wonderful thing ever and the worst. Why couldn’t I have had this for longer. It was so unfair, she is my soulmate and I’ve only had the past two weeks to have her to myself. If I would’ve known what was going to happen when I first met her, I would’ve told her my feelings so long ago. The sad truth is, that nothing can change what happened in the past and nothing could change what was going to happen next.

Finally, when we both were so spent that we could barely move, we both laid together on the floor of the messy skycarriage. Aura chuckled a little saying, “Stardust is going to kill us if we don’t clean this thing before we leave.”

She yawned. “I agree, maybe soon we’ll be able to do this whenever we want.”

She yawned again. “You really wore me out, did you miss me that much while you were stuck in that hole?”

“Well I’m here now, we’re both safe and happy. Soon you’ll be rid of that monster inside of you and we can get on with our lives,” she said closing her eyes.

It took me a moment to respond as my head throbbed again, like it’s been doing for hours now. “Yeah.”

I felt tears in my eyes as I heard her start to snore lightly. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

I waited for a little while until I knew Aura was fast asleep. When I knew she wouldn’t wake, I slowly pulled myself out from under her talon and made my way over to my saddle bags. I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, I wanted to leave her a note, telling her what I had to do and beg her to forgive me. Then I remembered the note I left her the last time I left. Back when Envy forced me to go to Halo One. No matter what I said in a letter, she’d never forgive me for it, so I wrote the only thing that really mattered.

You are the best thing that’s happened to me in my short life. There are no words that can explain what I had to do or why. I know that you can’t forgive me for this, but this is all that is left for me. Tell the others I’m sorry, especially Wind Thrasher. She’s going to be just as hurt as you because I told her I’d warn you all if Aquila was close to breaking out. I told you all that I had a few days left before she took over, but I lied. I know I do that a lot and I should’ve said something sooner, but there’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing any of you can do. If I told you what my last option was then you’d try to stop me. I understand, but please try and see that I’m doing this to save The Wasteland. Don’t blame yourself or anypony else, this was my choice. One of the few I’ve had in my life. I love you.

Once I was done, I put the note down next to my saddle bags. I pulled out The plasma rifle, Misery, Dream Walker, my shotgun, and the revolver I found in Mill City Tower. I set them next to my barding and duster, and only took the revolver. Once that was finished I pushed the door open and started to sneak down the pathway that led back to my friends and Dad. When I was closer I saw that all three of them were laughing around the fire, still waiting for Oricalcos to get back with Mom.

Keeping low I snuck past them and started working my way down the path that went into a small valley that led West. My head throbbed again bringing tears to my eyes, but I kept on walking. I wanted to be as far away from my friends as I could. I had no guarantee that Aura wouldn’t wake up too soon, find my note, and start looking for me. I couldn’t let her find me, not before I was finished. She was going to hate me for this, she would blame herself, even though nothing could’ve been done. This is just how The Wasteland works, I was just playing my part.

Once I knew I was far enough away, I sat on the hard-dry ground and looked up at the cloudy night sky. A little of the moon’s light poked through the cloud layer. The small beam of blue light seemed to fall on me illuminating the small spot I sat in with a soft bluish white. I closed my eyes for a moment and said softly, “Luna, if you’re there please forgive me for what I have to do.”

I opened my eyes again then looked down at the only thing I brought with me. The revolver from Mill City Tower. I checked the cylinder and saw that it was still loaded. I closed it up then spun the cylinder quickly and took in a deep breath as a single tear fell from my right eye. Mom said it herself, there was only one choice left to me now. A choice deep down I knew was coming. I tried to fight it, tried to fix myself, hoped it wouldn’t come to pass, but deep down I always knew. Even if Mom had a way to help me now, there wasn’t enough time, even though I tried to fool myself that there was.

I lifted the muzzle of the revolver in my magic. It made my head swim as I felt more of Aquila’s power flow through me. I ignored it, in a moment, it wouldn’t matter anymore. I brought the revolver up under my chin and angled it so that the bullet wouldn’t miss. I pulled back the hammer, closed my eyes, ignored the rising anger from deep in my mind, ignored the scream from Aquila as I used the last of my strength to pull the trigger. The hammer snapped down…BANG……

No…no…no…no…no…no…noooooo! It felt like somepony just jabbed a spike into my right ear as my magic pulled the gun out of the way at the last second. The blast going off right next to my face. I could feel a hot line in my cheek where the bullet grazed me and my ear was ringing. Did I chicken out? No, I wasn’t the one who moved the revolver at the last second. My magic wasn’t under my control anymore. I could feel it now, through the pain in my ear and face, she was there.

“You fool! Do you really think I was going to just let you kill us when I’m so CLOSE!? I’m done with this game SHADOW STAR. It’s time to pay up, your bill is due, GAME OVER!” Aquila said.

“No, please NO!” I yelled as magic blasted out of my horn turning the darkness around us red. My body felt as if millions of tiny needles were stabbing into it as more and more magic built up inside me.

“I would’ve given you the rest of tomorrow to prepare yourself for this, to say goodbye to your friends, but no, you just had to go and do something so fucking stupid. I wanted another day anyway just to make sure I had the power I needed, but you forced my hoof. In two minutes, your body is mine and you’ll fade from this world forever,” Aquila said from inside my head.

My body started to rise into the air, just like it did when Aquila first joined with me, ten years ago. I started to cry as more pain ran through my body, as I lifted higher into the air I screamed, “Aquila, just leave my friends alone please. Do whatever else you want, but please don’t hurt them!”

“Fuck your friends, fuck your family, and FUCK you Shadow. If you would’ve just given me what you promised ten years ago like I told you to, then we wouldn’t be here. I would’ve left them alone then, but now, I want you to fade into nothing knowing that everyone you love is going to DIE!” Aquila said with a wicked laugh.

“How are you going to stop me!?” she taunted. “You have no magic left, your mother’s gone, you killed the only other mare who could stop it, and you wasted what little time you had left to sleep with that griffon.”

My head snapped toward Aura, Stardust, Wind Thrasher, Dad, Oricalcos and Mom who were standing a safe distance away, looking up at me with horror. I started to scream, “Get away from me!”

I felt tears run down my face as Aquila started to laugh again. “Perfect, now I won’t have to hunt them down.”

“Please run, she’s close! She’s going to kill all of you! Get as far away from me as you can!” I yelled louder then screamed as pain lanced through my body.

Oricalcos looked at me with horror in his purple eyes, then he said, “She’s right, I can feel her. We have to get as far away as we can.”

Aura glared at him, “I’m not leaving her like this!” then she looked at Mom and said, “Grim do something!”

“I…I can’t, not anymore. She’s too far gone, Aquila has taken over her body and magic. Soon Shadow will be gone and only that monster will be left,” Mom said taking a step back.

I looked down at all of them and remembered something. “Dad, use Demon Slayer, it can kill her!”

“I don’t care, you have to or she’ll destroy everything! DO IT FOR THE WASTELAND!” I screamed.

He pulled Demon Slayer out quickly and aimed it at me. “I don’t want to hurt you sweetheart.”

Tears were running down his face as he said, “I’m sorry my little star…” he fired, but Aquila just used my magic to stop the bullet in midair. Then she took hold of my father and slammed him into the ground.

The magic coming out of me grew stronger and I swore I could hear the ground under me rumbling. My eyes found Wind Thrasher, “Please run! I don’t want you to die because of me…please.”

Wind Thrasher nodded then yelled, “We have to run, she’s right, we can’t do anything right now. Aquila will kill us once she has full control.”

Oricalcos cut her off saying, “She’s right, we have to live to fight another day. All of you get as far away from here as you can.”

Stardust nodded then said, “We love you Shadow, we’ll find a way…we will.” Then he flew off with Wind Thrasher, Mom jumping onto my friend’s back as he flew off.

Aura looked up at me, “I love you Shadow, I’ll get you back. Have faith and fight it.”

“Don’t you dare let her win, do you hear me? Don’t let her win!” Aura said as she took to the air and followed my friends.

“No, I gave my word that I would protect you until the end,” he said as his body turned to shadow.

He smiled as his shadow body floated toward me. “I will always be with you Star, always.”

“Maybe,” Oricalcos said his shadows closed around me now. “But we’ll go together.”

I felt so much love coming off my uncle then, and I cried harder, “I love you Uncle Ori.”

“Me too…” he said as Aquila laughed in my head, then as the last words the monster inside me were said, his shadow’s slammed into my horn.

[FOOTNOTE: GAME OVER!]

NO PERK ADDED!

THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!

AQUILA WINS!

SHADOW STAR LOSES?

OR DOES SHE...?

Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 54: Iridescent