Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 59: You Are A Pirate

I followed Captain Gunny as he led me down the path and up the hill not far from Star House. I’d only been gone from my new friends for fifteen minutes and I already missed them. I kind of wished I could stay for a few more days even though I’m needed back in New Pegasus. At least long enough to meet Blackjack. From the stories I was told, she seemed like an interesting pony to know. Maybe she could teach me a thing or two…though maybe not.

I was just starting to wonder what the trip back to New Pegasus was going to be like and what to expect when I got back, when Captain Gunny said from up the path, “Ah Ol’ Capin’ Gunny has no ider where he left that blasted air-ship. Was it the left fork or da right. Hmmm, dat’s a quagmire of a problem der.”

I walked up next to the older buck seeing two paths that forked to either side, asking, “You can’t remember where you left your ship? Didn’t you just leave it a half hour ago?”

He looked over at me, the slow match cords in his hat glowing a dull red, making his face look like it was slightly demonic. He smiled, saying, “Course Capin’ Gunny remembers where he left his ship. Just can’t quite remember which path were taken.” He studied the paths, saying, “Course he could’ve come from the right path, but Gunny likes to throw off his chasers he does. Maybe it was the left, and he just wanted to make sure even Gunny couldn’t follow hisself back.”

I studied the old dirt path as well, then noticed the paths myself. It only took a moment to see the slight hoof prints on the left path. Smiling to myself I pointed to them. “Looks like you came from the left path.”

He looked down at them, then frowned, followed a moment later by a smile and a chuckle. “Course he did, ah course,” he rubbed his chin, “was testing the young Star, see if she’s payin’ attentions.”

“Why would you care if I was paying attention? Aren’t you the captain?” I asked.

He started down the left path. “Course Gunny’s the Capin’, he ain’t da navigator, no, that job will fall on you.”

“Me? I don’t know the first thing about navigation, hell I don’t even know the area. Don’t you have a Navigator already?” I asked in shock.

“That Gunny did, sadly like, he came down with a nasty case of nappin’, right on Gunny’s bed. Drooled all over Gunny’s pillows more dan once, three times he did. Had tah toss him overboard,” Gunny said with a chuckle.

“So, you killed him for drooling on your pillows?” I asked.

“Nah, Gunny didn’t kill him, no all he did was throw him off the ship. Was only a ten-meter drop. Broke his legs the fool, started screaming like somepony popped his bum cherry wit’ a metal poker stick, or somefin’ like dat. Would’ve been fine apart from his broken hoovesies and some pain, but no the fool had to scream. Right in the middle of hell hound territory too,” Gunny said with a chuckle.

“So, you threw him off your ship, he broke his legs, and was killed by hell hounds?” I asked, very confused by his strange way of talking.

“Nope, he would have, but da nasty pups didn’t make it to im’ in times. Nope radscorpion popped outta nowhere and got hims first. Sad lot to watch, least the angry pups would’ve killed im’ quick like. Radscorpions like to take der time,” he said, then stopped and shivered. “Lot like spiders, never liked spiders, to many legs and all dat, like straight outta Capin’ Gunny’s nightmares”

Deciding that continuing this particular conversation wasn’t getting us anywhere I changed the subject…mostly. “I still don’t know how I’m going to navigate for you.”

He laughed again. “Don’t be worryin’ bout’ dat, Gunny never lets his crew go wit’out help. Can’t be havin’ a rook doin’ things all wishy sideways now can he? Sun Spot can teach ya, she was gonna be Gunny’s new navigator but she’s moved up to first mate. Good girl if a little strange.”

“How many do you have on your crew?” I asked.

“Countin’ you? Three. Da twins do a good job with the plunderin’ and lootin’. Sun Spot though is da, smarter one of dem,” he said.

“Twins?” I asked.

“Gunny doesn’t feel like explainin’ you’ll understand,” he said.

We reached the top of the small hill looking out over a meadow and my eyes went wide. Sitting in the middle of the meadow was a ship like nothing I’d ever seen before…which I guess wasn’t saying much. I hadn’t seen many air-ships in my life, even when I was a foal and still living in Enclave territory. This ship was made of wood, with metal armor placed on its outer hull, in the front there was a long ram covered in thick steel plating. At the back of the ship there were two huge machines that looked a little like rockets, though I couldn’t be sure. Hovering over the ship was what could only be called a balloon or something that looked like one. Whatever it was, it looked like what helped keep the ship in the air. On the deck I could see six energy weapons so massive that I knew they had to be powerful. Three on each side of the ship made it so they could fire on oncoming enemies. At the front deck another massive energy weapon was mounted on a swivel. Last at the back, two more energy weapons were poking out. As we started walking closer to the…ship? Flying boat? No idea what to call it, I saw that ‘Bitter Cob’ was written on two gold-encrusted plates in green paint on the front mirroring each other.

“Ain’t she a beaut?” Gunny asked, sounding a like a father talking about his filly who just won some kind of prize.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I said captivated by this machine.

Gunny turned around so fast I almost fell over in surprise, “The Bitter Cob ain’t an…‘it’…she’s a ‘she’. Don’t ya ponies from the west flanks of this butthole wasteland know that much? Learn yer pronuns.”

“I’m sorry Captain Gunny, I had no idea. I’ve never been around a ship before,” I said. “Also don’t you mean pronouns?”

He glared at me for a long moment then Finally sighed then said, “Course not, Gunny shoulda known, dessert folk ya be. And that’s what Gunny said, pronouns, get a hearin’ spade.”

“You mean Desert.” I said automatically.

“Tis weren’t Gunny said init?” He asked.

“You said dessert, y’know like a cake or something like it,” I said.

“Ah that be true, good lass you be Star Shine,” he said with a chuckle.

“Shadow Star sir,” I said as he started leading me back to The Bitter Cob.

“Ah that’s right, Shadow Shine, forgot already, never been good with names Gunny hasn’t,” he said.

I was about to correct him again then just shook my head, “Just call me Shadow, will that work?”

“Guess so, though if ya want, Gunny could give you a proper pirate name. Something good like Swill, or Rum Runner. You know what Gunny means, something to strike fear into dem souls of ponies,” he said with a laugh.

Both names were nowhere near good, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Instead I replied, “I think Shadow would be fine, lot of ponies are scared of the dark or shadowy places.”

He laughed, “Aye, you be right there, guess you get to keep yer prissy pony name then. Gunny still thinks Rum Runner is perfect.

“No” I said sternly

“Arr you be no fun Shadow” He laughed heartily “Ah look, Gunny’s crew be waitin’ for him at the top of the gang plank.”

I looked up the ramp that lead up to the deck of the ship and stopped. Standing there were two identical creatures. Creatures I’d never seen or heard of in my life, though they looked so close to ponies I may have been imagining it. They also didn’t look like ponies at the same time. It was almost like somepony had taken a griffon and a pony and smashed them into one. They both had the head and mane of a pony. One looked more feminine than the other, but not by much. Their bodies had an off-white color to it with a lighter maroon color to their manes, both of them had two different colored eyes. One was green the other blue. But oddly the only thing different about them was that the one that looked more feminine’s green eye was on its right, the blue on its left. The other had its blue eye on the right and the green on its left.

Their ears had tufts on the ends, that would make Wind Thrasher or Laser Light jealous. Each white ear ended in a maroon tuft that matched the mane. Now as I looked down I saw that they had…paws…not hoofs on their forelegs, in the back they had normal pony hooves. Going down their backs was a dark redwood color that followed all the way up their…lions tail…the puffy end was also maroon matching their mane. Last was their wings’ they weren’t as big as Aura’s but a lot bigger than a Pegasus would have. The wings matched their coat perfectly.

I took a step back, unsure what was going on. The one on the right of me, spoke in a normal pony’s speech, an accent that reminded me a lot of the ponies who grew up in New Pegasus or around it, “Captain Gunny, I’m glad you’re back. We heard gunfire and thought something might’ve happened to you,” it sounded like a female.

“Nothin’ Capin’ Gunny can’t deal with, few Enclave feather brains thought they’d take a pop or two at the young unicorn. Showed em’ why you don’t mess with Gunny,” he said with a laugh then turned to me as the two…whatever they were came down the plank, “Shadow, this be, Sun Spot and…uh…oh right Elmer…”

The other creature who sounded male replied, “Elliot, Captain. We’ve been over this. Just because you’re crazy, doesn’t mean you can call me whatever you want.”

Gunny laughed, “Best be watchin’ yer tone with your Capin’ now Elmer…Elliot, you knows what ol’ Gunny means. Also, Capin’ Gunny ain’t crazy, he’s MAD, ere’s a difference.”

The male creature rolled his eyes, “Sure there is, anyway, I take it this is Shadow Star, our passenger?”

“Yeah that’s me. What are you two by the way? You look like a weird cross between a griffon and a pony,” I asked a little confused by their appearance.

The female…Sun Spot looked like she was going to answer when Gunny cut in, “Der’ be time for talkin’ and such when we cast off.” He looked back at the twins saying, “You two, there’s four Pegasi up da road with holes in their noggins. Go collect em’, promised the ponies dere dat, Capin’ Gunny would send a clean up.”

They both saluted, saying, “Yes sir!”

“Sir!? SIR!? What kind of pirates are ya!? Give Capin’ Gunny a proper Aye, Aye,” Gunny said.

“Aye, aye Captain!” They said in unison, then opening their wings, they were off.

“So, ya met the twins, least you didn’t scream when ya met dem. Gunny sure did, creepy looking folk dey be,” he said, heading up the plank and onto his ship before looking back at me. “Don’t just stand there like a poxy bum boy, got ta show ya ‘round The Bitter Cob.”

Sighing again, I followed the ‘not crazy…but mad’ pony onto his ship. Once I was on the deck he took me on a tour. As he walked around he said, “The Bitter Cob’s a beauty and one of a kind nowadays. Gunny will show ya how things work on Gunny’s ship and where you’d be sleepin’. Normally Gunny would keep ya in the cargo hold, but der be a lot of things Bottle wants taken to here or there.”

I did my best to follow his speech while he showed me around. As we walked, I learned more about ships than I ever thought I would. I learned that you didn’t say left or right on a ship, it was port or starboard. Gunny explained…in his own way…that they were a fixed position on the ship no matter which way somepony was facing. If you were at the back…or stern I guess, of the ship and facing what Gunny called forward, the port was on the left, the starboard on the right. If you were on the Bow or front of the ship and looking toward at…the back also, the starboard was now on your left and the port on your right. He explained that it kept the crew knowing where an enemy was. He told me that even an airship, be it The Enclave’s form of airship, or this one, that was the way the crew learned how to navigate. He said that it was what sailors used to use a long time ago, before airships were around. I got to see the forecastle as well, which is where the crew slept. This ship only had three rooms. One was Captain Gunny’s room, which was the biggest. Then one on each side for the Twins. I guess they didn’t sleep in the same room.

I found it odd, because from what I heard about twins, they always liked to be together. Maybe it was because of gender. If I had a brother at my age, I wouldn’t want him sleeping in my room anymore, even if we were close. Gunny pointed a hoof at the room on the port side saying, “Dere be your room Shadow, you’ll be bunkin’ with Sun Spot.”

I heard two sets of wings a second later followed by two bodies landing on the deck just outside the small hallway that led to the rooms, followed by Sun Spot saying, “Captain, we’ve disposed of the bodies and took their gear.”

“Ah good, it’s time be castin’ off den,” Gunny said with a rye chuckle. “Sun Spot, Shadow will be bunkin’ with ya. Ye can show her da ropes with navigation and all that.”

“Aye Captain,” Sun Spot said then looked over at me and smiled. “Don’t worry, I have enough space for the two of us in there.”

Elliot chuckled. “Careful she snores.”

“Do not!” Sun Spot said, looking offended.

“Ya snore, now get da ship ready for castin’ Gunny’s got a schedule to be keeping and whatnot.”

“Aye, Aye!” They both said moving to other parts of the ship.

Sun Spot looked back at me since I hadn’t moved from where I was standing a moment ago and gave me another smile. “Hey kid, come with me, you’re gonna love this.”

I followed her, asking, “What’s going to happen?”

“Oh, you’ll see. This ship is quite the experience. There’s none like it anymore,” she said as she moved to go stand next to the wheel. I noticed that apart from the wheel, there were a few levers and a panel on her right, and a terminal on her left. She fiddled with something on the terminal, then yelled, “Captain Gunny, ready to fire rear thrusters.”

“First mate, did ya check da gem’s connecting?” Gunny asked. He was standing a few feet away watching as Elliot messed with something at the front of the ship.

“Full power to the thrusters, same for the anti-grav engines. The support ballon is stable and ready to lift, our guns are running at ninety seven percent though,” Sun Spot said as she checked the terminal.

“Raider and E.F.S. scrambler is powered and running perfectly!” Elliot said from the front.

“Ah, Captin’ Gunny loves how good his crew be, good job, now Let’s take to da sky!” he said with a barking laugh.

Sun Spot grinned like a mad…whatever she was, then looked at me. “You might want to hold onto something.”

Unsure what she meant by that, I dove for a rope that was connected to the big balloon like device over us and held on tight with my forelegs right as Sun Spot took hold of a lever and rammed it forward. For a second nothing happened, all I could hear was a small humming coming from under us. Also it felt like the ship was slowly lifting into the air. I looked around and saw that we were slowly lifting off the ground. Then three things happened at the same time, first my E.F.S. started to go haywire in my vision, then the ship tilted it’s nose upward, and with a loud ‘BOOM’ The Bitter Cob exploded into the sky.

I screamed as I felt my hooves slipping slowly from the rope as the force of the jump almost tore me from the line. It only lasted a moment though, soon the ship leveled off and the force on my body eased a little. I waited a moment until I was sure nothing was going to force me off the ship before I let the rope go and got back to my hooves looking around.

Sun Spot looked over to see me looking around and she smiled again, “Sorry for the quick jump like that, but it’s the best way to keep The Enclave from noticing us.”

I shook my head, then brought the Mark II up and turned off my E.F.S. All it as doing right now is making my head hurt as lines of red and white mixed with zigzags ran across my vision. I looked over at her, asking, “What was that all about? And what did you do to my E.F.S.?”

Elliot came up to us, saying, “We have tech on here that keeps us from being noticed by The Enclave’s Radar and it can scramble the E.F.S. in their power-armor too. Sorry, but while we’re in the air, you won’t be able to use yours, same for S.A.T.S., both spells won’t work right up here.”

“Makes sense, but next time can you warn me? Also, what do you do if a passing airship sees you?” I asked.

Captain Gunny laughed, “Dat’s what da cannons are for, though Captain Gunny don’t see many Enclave ships below the clouds.”

“What about Pegasi?” I asked.

“Them too,” he said with a mad grin. “Sun Spot, let ol’ Gunny take da wheel for a bit, why don’t you go get Shadow up to quick now.”

“You mean up to speed?” she asked.

“We are up to speed, now be gone with ya,” Gunny said, shooing her away from the wheel.

“Aye sir,” she said, rolling her eyes then giggling. She looked over at me and nodded her head down toward the main deck. “Follow me Kid.”

I did as I was asked as she led me down to the main deck. We walked for a minute or two before I asked again, “So can you explain to me what you are?”

She looked down at me, her smile fading a little, saying, “That’s a hard question to answer Shadow. The better question would be what did I used to be, because now, I have no idea what I am. There’s no known word for the creatures Elliot and I are now.”

I cocked an eyebrow at her, asking, “What you used to be? You mean you weren’t born like this?”

She shook her head saying, “Haven’t you noticed yet, that I have a pony’s name and Elliot has a griffon name?”

“I did notice that, but I just figured your parents had some weird sense of humor,” I said.

She laughed a little. “Well not in the sense you’re thinking. Elliot and I aren’t really twins, not in the normal way at least. During the war, I was wing commander first class of the Dashers, a small group that was part of the Shadowbolts. Elliot was a contracted griffon who worked with the Dashers on most of our big missions. We became best friends over time and still are.”

I stopped in my tracks, saying, “Whoa, hold up a second. You’re telling me you were around since the war? There’s no way that’s possible, you’d be over two hundred years old.”

She looked back at me then smiled again. “I am, though it’s not because I’m special or anything like that. Until a couple months ago, Elliot and I were in stasis pods. We were placed in there as a part of a project called Chimera.”

That name sparked something in my memories from the last few days when I was talking to Scotch. “I’ve heard about that project before, a filly I met in Chapel said some ghoul…can’t remember his name, but some ghoul let a lot of monsters out of their pods. So you’re one of them?”

She nodded again. “I am, so is Elliot, we were one of the first he let out who were part of Project Chimera, we were also one of the first mostly successful subjects from that project. You see, during a battle near Hoofington we encountered a dragon, a massive old dragon. I was badly hurt during that fight and almost died. Elliot wasn’t much better. We were both pronounced as dead in the line of duty, but what really happened is, we were both taken to a secret location. Our wounds were mostly healed by the doctors there. Once we were healthy enough, they placed us into pods. Turns out they wanted to use us to make one mixed creature, but something went wrong. When they activated the megaspell, only half of our DNA was pulled away. The ponies tried to shut down the experiment and realign our DNA, but what happened was that our DNA went to the other. It turned us into what you see now. We are technically Identical Twins now apart from our gender.”

“I’m surprised either of you survived that,” I said.

“So were the doctors. At first, they thought it would be good for Equestria, they thought they could use us to fight the zebras, but things didn’t go according to plan. When we first woke up a couple days later, neither of us could deal with what happened to us, and we both attacked our caretakers. We both tried to escape and killed a few ponies in the attempt, but sadly we didn’t make it out. We were placed into cells for study for a couple of months and once it was determined that we wouldn’t do what they wanted us to do, they placed us into the pods. We woke up over two hundred years later to find our home destroyed and a nutcase ghoul who wanted us to work for him,” Sun Spot said.

“Let me guess, both of you didn’t want anything to do with that,” I said.

“Got that right, Elliot and I managed to escape, at least for a little while. The other ponies he let out did track us down a week or so later and tried to force us to go back, but luckily for us, Captain Gunny showed up and helped us escape. We’ve been working with him ever since,” she said.

“So, you became sky pirates,” I said, “I guess there’s worse career choices.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, Gunny does do a lot of things a pirate would, but he only goes after The Enclave, or Slavers, and ponies like that. He’s a few bullets short of a clip, but deep down he’s a good pony,” Sun Spot said, leading me back toward the front of the ship.

“So, if you were around during the war, did you ever meet a pony named Night Stalker?” I asked.

She looked back at me, “I’ve heard of him, but I can’t say much about who he was. All I know is he was one of Princess Luna’s personal guards. I saw him once at the Grand Galloping Gala. I heard rumors about him then too, but like I said, he wasn’t well known when I was still fighting.”

“When did your accident happen?” I asked.

“About three weeks after the Gala,” she replied. “If I read when the bombs fell, that would be about five years before the end.”

“Oh, that’s why then. He wasn’t a well-known pony yet,” I said.

“Only other time I heard anything about him apart from rumors was when my friend Cloudy Nights said something about joining Night Stalker’s new Guard unit,” she said with a shrug.

“Wait you knew Cloudy Nights?” I asked, a little surprised.

She nodded, “Yeah, she was my trainer during boot camp. She used to date my older brother Silver Hooves. Back then she went by a different name, until he died during the burning of Hoofington.”

I sat down and leaned against the wall, “So you knew her when she was still going by Pink Rose.”

She sat down next to me and gave me a curious look, “Most ponies don’t know that name. She changed it when she was still a young mare.”

“When I first left my stable, I hid in a bunker under an old shack and found her diary and a recording. I’ve also seen her in a memory orb or two, she worked with Night Stalker’s team during the war and I’ve wanted to know more about her ever since I first read what happened to her,” I said.

Sun Spot laid her head against the railing and sighed. “She used to be full of fire and happy as hell when she was still with my brother. After he died though, she got hard and distrustful of most ponies. When she was our instructor in boot camp, she wasn’t anything like the mare I knew when I was still a filly.”

“I’m not surprised honestly, losing somepony you love is hard,” I said looking up at the clouds that were only a few meters over us. “What was boot camp like for you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

She shrugged. “Hard, but also fun. We only had about eight in our group, a mix of pegasi and earth ponies. Well myself and one other pegasus I should say, the rest were earth ponies.”

“Was this the Shadowbolts training?” I asked.

She shook her head, “No that was later, I wanted to learn how to fight like the earth ponies did before I did flight training. Cloudy Nights was our trainer for both, but she worked with Big Mac on the earth pony training.”

“Big Mac?” I asked. “I saw him in a memory orb once too.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he was a kind stallion, but also tough as nails. He took a great interest in the other pegasus in our group and helped toughen him up a lot, but he always had time for all of us if we needed him.” She looked down at her paws and I could see sadness in her eyes. “It was a sad day when he died.”

“Who was the other pegasus?” I asked, mostly because I just wanted something to talk about.

She scratched her chin for a moment thinking back. “You know I can’t remember his name, but he was kind of a coward at first, took a while for him to catch up to the rest of us, but he pushed through. I think his Griffon friend who kept visiting from another group helped a little with that. I remember her more, it wasn’t every day you saw a griffon fighting for Equestria and not as a merc.”

An idea came to me so I looked back at her, asking, “Hey, Sun Spot, would it be weird if I asked you if I could look at one of your memories?”

She blinked then gave me a funny look. “That’s a strange request, why do you want to look into my memories?”

“Mostly because I want to try out a new spell I learned, but also I want to see if this other pegasus is the same one I’m thinking of,” I replied.

She took a moment to think about it then shrugged. “Captain won’t be needing us for a little while, so I guess it’s okay. Wait, if you just learned this spell, how dangerous is it if it’s your first time?”

“I’ll be gentle and I know I can do the spell without hurting you, as long as you’re letting me view the memory. If you try and fight me while I’m in there, then we might have problems,” I said.

She took another moment to think, then said, “Fine, but let’s go to my room first, I don’t want Elliot or Gunny to do something to us that they think is funny while you’re doing the spell.”

“It shouldn’t take long, but that’s fine with me,” I said getting up.

She led me back to the room we’ll be sharing over this voyage and shut the door. She laid down on her bed, and said, “Okay, I’m ready I guess. What do I need to do?”

“Just think about boot camp then relax and don’t fight my spell,” I said.

“Okay, I’ll try my best,” she said, closing her eyes. “Okay, ready.”

I took in a deep breath then called on my magic, once I had hold of the magic, I wrapped it around Sun Spot’s head. Once that was done, I activated the spell. I gasped as my own mind seemed to flow into Sun Spot’s, a bright light came forth and I was swallowed by the memory.

I was in a strong pegasus as she faced off against an earth pony mare. It was raining and mud covered the ground. My host was slowly walking around her opponent, grinning as she said, “Come on Duster, is that all you’ve got!?”

“You wish Sun Spot!” the earth pony said as she attacked.

Sun Spot jumped over Duster then landed on her back, knocking her to the ground. She twisted around then pinned her down, holding her face into the mud and keeping her in a strange hold so the other mare couldn’t move. She held her like that for a few seconds until another mare’s voice said, “Match! Sun Spot wins this round too.”

My host got back to her hooves then helped Duster up. “Good try Duster, but you need to stop charging me and try to trick me.”

Duster smiled. “I did, you’re just too fast.”

“LINE UP!” the other mare who stopped the match yelled.

My host stood at attention and faced the other mare. When my host’s eyes fell on her I saw it was Cloudy Nights. She was younger than when I saw her in Greta’s memory orb, and she was still beautiful, even in military fatigues with a short wet mane and mud on her hooves. She waited for my host and Duster to line up with the rest of their group before she started to pace and talk. “That was well done Cadet Sun Spot, though you need to watch your opponent when you do a trick like that. If you were even a little slower, Duster would’ve had the hold on you, not the other way around.”

“Yes ma’am!” my host said.

Another Stallion came up to stand next to Cloudy Nights, it was Big Mac. “Howdy Cloudy Nights. Mighty good team you got goin’”

She looked at him and nodded. “Most of them anyway, can’t say much for the other pegasus.”

My host and the rest of the ponies in line all looked toward the end of the line and a tall scrawny looking pegasus. I couldn’t make him out well from where Sun Spot was standing, but I could see a grey coat and a short black mane. Big Mac looked over at him too then said to Cloudy Nights. “Sure he’s skinny and all, but he hasn’t had time to bulk up yet. I’m sure with some hard work, we can make something out of him.”

“He can barely fly Big Mac,” she said, then looked at the skinny pegasus. “Cadet Moon, come forward!”

The pegasus took a second as he looked at the others, now I could see his face better. Shocking green eyes and a nasty scar over his left one, it was Night Stalker, or Absent Moon right now. I could barely believe it, he didn’t look like the stallion who led The Children of the Night. No, Absent Moon looked scared, weak, and shy. It was like he didn’t want any of the ponies here to look at him or to even speak to him, it was like he wasn’t one of them, or they frightened him somehow.

“You were given an order Cadet,” Big Mac said, his voice stern, but not unkind.

Absent Moon winced then looked at Big Mac and Cloudy Nights and walked forward until he was face to face with them. He saluted then said in his normal deep voice, though sounding scared to speak, “Sorry…sir,”

“Ain’t no need to be sorry, just follow orders as soon as you hear them and you’ll have no problems,” Big Mac said.

“Yes…sir,” Absent Moon said, standing straighter.

“Now, Cloudy Nights says you have a problem flyin’. Is that true?” he asked.

“No sir, I just haven’t had much time to do it since I joined up,” Absent Moon said.

Cloudy Nights made an irritated noise. “You failed your flight evaluation Moon, you’re lucky that you were given a chance to join this group.”

“I only failed ma’am because the test was unfair,” Absent Moon said shyly.

“Unfair how?” she asked, sounding angry.

“They set that test up to show off how well pegasi can deal with flight combat, I was never trained to do that where I came from. Even though most of the creatures I grew up with do fight in the air for a living, my…gran, taught me different ways of flying and fighting. My instructor at the flight camp didn’t want to listen and he sent me here,” Absent Moon said.

“You’re that pegasus who grew up in Griffonstone right?” Big Mac asked.

“Yes sir,” Absent Moon replied.

“I was just talking to that griffon friend of yours before I headed over here, she said something about how you weren’t given a chance to show off your skills,” Big Mac said with a chuckle.

“If he can’t do what’s needed to fight a war in the skies then he’s useless up there. He’s lucky I haven’t kicked him out of my group too,” Cloudy Nights said.

“I don’t know, maybe he just needs somepony to give him a chance to shine. Not everypony can be expected to do the same thing as everypony else. Hell, if that were the case, the marauders wouldn’t be here,” Big Mac said.

“Maybe you’re right, but if he doesn’t do something to shine soon, he’ll be on his ass on the other side of the gate in a month,” Cloudy Nights said.

Big Mac looked back to Absent Moon, “Tell me…Moon was it?”

“Yes sir, Moon…just Moon,” he said.

“Right, well Moon, tell me what kind of skills do you have, either on the ground or in the air,” Big Mac said.

“Stealth mostly, Gran always said that I could fly or trot so quietly that even she couldn’t hear me, and Gran had great hearing for an old griffon,” he said.

“Is that so?” Big Mac asked, then looked at my host. “Sun Spot, come forward please.”

“Yes Sir,” Sun Spot said, trotting to stand next to Absent Moon.

“Sun Spot, from what I know about you, you’re one of the top flyers from the flight school. You joined this group to get more ground experience, but you’re one of the best flyers in the last group. Do you think you could take Moon down in an air fight?” Big Mac said.

“Easily sir, wouldn’t take more than a minute,” my host said with a grin.

“Good,” Big Mac said, turning to Absent Moon again. “How bad do you want to be a solider Moon?”

“More than anything sir,” Absent Moon said.

“Then I’ll make a deal with you. If you can take Sun Spot down in the air, then I’ll train you myself and the rest of this group alongside Cloudy Nights. If you can’t take her down, then you’ll have to leave the military for a year and train on your own until you can come back stronger,” Big Mac said.

“I can do it sir,” Absent Moon said with a shy smile.

“Please, I’ve seen you fly Moon, you don’t have what it takes to take me on,” my host said, rolling her eyes.

“If you really think so then try me,” he said, glaring at her. When he did, it was like the shyness vanished and was replaced with a deep pain and anger. Those were the eyes I was used to seeing on Night Stalker. A deep hatred that was buried deep inside him.

Cloudy Nights sighed, then said, “Fine, but lets make it quick, I have more to teach you all today and I don’t want to waste any more time.”

“Same for me,” Big Mac said. “Well if you two think you have what it takes, then get to it!”

“I’m going to take you down Moon,” my host said.

Absent Moon didn’t take time to respond, he shot into the air, faster than I thought those scrawny wings could fly. My host was shocked too, but she recovered quickly and she was off. She shot like a bullet toward Absent Moon. He was still climbing toward the clouds. My host flapped harder and started to gain ground…uh air? On him. As they flew, Absent Moon yelled down at my host, “If you want to win, you’ll need to keep your eyes on me!”

“That’s easy with how slow you are,” my host taunted.

Absent Moon looked back then flipped in the air and shot toward her. My host was ready and she twisted around in the air, aiming a kick at his face as he fell. At the last second however, Absent Moon moved to my host’s right and shot past her, his wing slapping her in the eyes on the way down. My host cursed and shook her head as spots swam in her vision. She stopped herself in the air and looked down at where Absent Moon had dove, but he was gone. She looked around, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. It was like he vanished into thin air.

“Where’d you go!?” she yelled as she tried to listen for the flapping of his wings. She started to look around, but still there was no sight of him anywhere. Then a sharp pain shot up my host’s back as somepony kicked her. She swore and twisted around to counter, but again, nopony was there. Another kick to her face as a quick flash of a shadow flew by. My host fell for a moment before she caught herself and she swung around, screaming into the air, “Stop Hiding you coward!”

Lightning flashed in the distance, lighting up the darkness for a moment. When the light of the flash vanished and my host was squinting from the burst of light, a hoof slammed into her face. She was twisted around and put into a head lock. She tried to break his hold, but Absent Moon had her, he then whispered in her ear, “I told you to keep your eyes on me, now you’re done!”

“Let me go you fucker!” my host yelled.

“You want me to let you go? Okay then, but remember when you wake up, that you asked for it,” he responded.

“What?” my host asked before Absent Moon flipped around with her, twisted one of her wings painfully then threw her toward the ground. She tried to fly, but her left wing was numb from whatever he’d done to her and the ground came flying up at her. She landed with a thump, in a soft spot in the mud, then everything went black.

I jumped as I pulled away from the memory, my head throbbing from the force of the memory jumping into my head. Sun Spot did the same thing saying, “Shit that hurt. What the hell?”

“Sorry, I didn’t know it was going to feel like that,” I said as I rubbed my temples. I looked over at her once the pounding started to go away, asking, “What happened when you woke up from that fight?”

She looked over at me confused. “Huh?”

“The fight with that Pegasus, the grey one with the green eyes,” I said.

It took her a moment to catch on. When she did, she said, “Oh the memory? I didn’t realize you saw it already. That spell only lasted a few seconds.”

“Really?” I asked, huh I guess Lacunae was right, that spell made watching a memory a lot faster compared to a memory orb.

“Yeah, I just felt a pressure for a few seconds then that sharp pain, like somepony stabbed a needle into my brain,” Sun Spot said, shaking her head again.

“Yeah, I did see the memory, that spell makes them go by faster, that might be why it hurt a little,” I said. “Anyway, what happened when you woke up?”

She shrugged. “Spent a day in the infirmary with a sprained wing joint and a broken rib. Took a little bit for the Ministry of Peace rep to heal.”

“What about that pegasus…Moon I think his name was?” I asked.

“Oh Moony? That’s what we called him after that day,” she said with a chuckle. “Big Mac took him on and trained him along side the rest of us. He ended up being the top of our class along side me. We both had good scores and talent by the end of it all.”

“Whatever happened to him?” I asked, wondering how much more I could learn about my distant grandfather from her. I mean hell, she was alive during that time.

She took a moment to think back. “Well, I know he ended up on a scouting team at one point. Like I said, I didn’t know him well. Once training was over, I didn’t see him again. Still I know that after training he worked with the scouts for the royal army for a bit. I heard later that he was kicked out for disobeying orders, he was moved to a fighting unit near the badlands, but again disobeyed orders, don’t know how though. Later he was put into another scouting party under a pegasus called Thunderlane, on his second mission they ran into a camp of zebras getting close to a town called Saddleton, and he died in that raid.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, wondering how a story like that could have come about. I mean I knew he lived through that mission, because I saw the memory of when Celestia recruited him for The Children.

“Yeah, he was the only pony to die during that raid. He went in with that pony you asked about before, Night Stalker, and died helping him escape after killing three legionnaires. It was all over the news, though I still can’t remember his full name, it was always Moony to everypony,” she said.

My own brain was going crazy as I started wondering what could’ve made the ponies of Equestria think that he died and nopony asked who this Night Stalker was. Did the Princesses do something to make everypony forget Absent Moon? They had to have done something like that. Then I remembered Night Stalker always saying that Absent Moon AKA Moony was dead. Is that what he meant by that? There had to be ponies that knew him before he was Night Stalker, like Big Mac, he called him Night Stalker in that memory before he died and Thunderlane knew him beforehoof too, but still he always called him by his new name or Captain. Lightning Dust too, same for a few other ponies who he knew before he was Night Stalker. This was all getting a little strange…well stranger than what was normal for Night Stalker.

“You okay?” Sun Spot asked.

I looked back to her and nodded. “Yeah, just thinking is all.”

“You look like somepony just told you that Celestia herself was about to pay you a visit. You’re a little pale,” she said.

“It’s just that I know that pony in your memory, I’ve seen him a few times in memory orbs,” I said.

“Strange, though it’s too bad that he died. He was a nice stallion when you got to know him, well as much as he’d let anypony get to know him. I think that griffon friend of his was the only one who was able to bring the real side of him out,” she said.

“Yeah, though he didn’t die like you thought,” I said, watching her as she moved to a small desk and picked up an old photo.

She looked back at me, “How would you know that?”

“It’s a long story, let’s just say that he changed his name and somehow got the rest of Equestria to forget about his old life,” I said getting back to my hooves.

“I find that hard to believe, the reports said that he died,” she said.

I looked back at her again, then waved a hoof back and further indicating her strange appearance. “Yeah, and what did they say about you and Elliot? I’ve come to learn that when the ministries stepped in and wanted something done, they could make anypony believe what they wanted them to.”

She tapped at her muzzle with one of her paws. “You’ve got me there, from what I learned about what happened to us, we were pronounced dead. I guess I see what you mean.”

“It seems like there were a lot of secrets back in those days,” I said with a sigh.

Before Sun Spot could say any more the door to her room opened and Elliot was standing there. He looked between the two of us then said, “I’ve been looking for you Sun Spot, we’ve got trouble, Captain Gunny needs you up top.”

Sun Spot put the photo down asking quickly. “What’s going on?”

“No sure how, but an Enclave ship’s detected us, they’re looking for Shadow. There’s some scary bitch on deck with five pegasi behind her and a raptor aiming guns at our ship,” Elliot said turning to head back out of the room.

“What?” I asked heading to follow him.

He put a paw on my head, stopping me from following. “Captain says you need to stay here; if they come looking for you then hide. There’s a small area under Sun Spot’s bed, it’s a hidden spot we use for smuggling. Don’t come out for anything.”

“But…”I started to say, but Sun Spot cut me off.

“He’s right, stay here until we can get them to leave,” she said and followed Elliot out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

I wanted to follow anyway, but I knew better than that. If The Enclave were here looking for me, I needed to stay hidden. I still wasn’t at my best right now and I was getting closer to Aura, I couldn’t mess this up. I sighed and walked over to the desk Sun Spot was at a moment ago and looked at the old photo she’d been holding. It was a picture of a mare that reminded me a lot of Sun Spot, she was standing in front of six other pegasi, all wearing flight jackets with a big D on the left breast with a rainbow lightning bolt going through the D. This must’ve been her team when she was with the Dashers.

They all looked so happy in this picture, like nothing in the world could stand in their way. I flipped the picture over and saw a note had been written on the back, it said.

Sun,

Got the photo developed for you finally, you look amazing in that new uniform. Stay safe out there and remember that I’m always here for you when you get home. Stay strong, stay smart, and fly fast.

Love,

Feather Weight

“I wonder who Feather Weight was?” I asked myself when a cracking laugh echoed through the door from the deck.

“Hahaha, Ye be messin’ with Capin’ Gunny ain’t ya? What was yer name again?” I heard Gunny say.

Moving to the door I cracked it open just a little and peeked out. I could just make out a mare in power armor, her helmet off, standing a few feet away from Gunny. Elliot was next to him…I think and Sun Spot was just past the hall that led onto the deck. Behind the mare five more pegasi in power armor were standing close to the mare, their energy weapons ready to fire if anypony moved too quickly.

The mare had an icy blue coat, her mane was the color of freshly fallen snow, and her eyes were an icy electric blue. It was like somepony just pulled her out of a freezer. Honestly, she reminded me a lot of Winter Frost. When she spoke, her voice was cold and thin almost like it was made of ice water. “I’ve told you twice now dirty pony, I’m Captain Strife of The Grand Pegasus Enclave out of Thunderhead. What I want to know is why you think you have the right to fly this monstrosity in our skies?”

She didn’t yell or even raise her voice, but the way she spoke made me want to hide under the covers of Sun Spot’s bed like a foal. I’m not sure what it was, but this pony’s presence alone scared me. Either that or the fact that she was the same pony who put the wanted posters up of me, Winter Frost’s sister Captain Strife. None of that seemed to bother Gunny though, because he just chuckled again, saying, “Mighty rude of ya, to be goin’ round callin’ ponies things like dirt. Hurts the feelers and all that…”

“Feelings Captain,” Elliot corrected.

Gunny looked over at Elliot saying quickly, “Is what Gunny said! Wasn’t it? No Problems.” He looked back to the ice queen. “As Captain Gunny was sayin’, how’d ya feel if Gunny went around hurting yer feelers?”

Elliot slapped a paw against his face. “You’re impossible Captain.”

“Ah right, feelings, pardon Captain Gunny’s words, he’s a little mad, or so he’s told from place to time,” Gunny said. “Gunny may go round, sayin’ things like cloud muncher and all dat but he wouldn’t say to your face now would he? Come on speak up,” he stopped then looked at Elliot. “Gunny be thinkin’ this cloud muncher’s got an ice thingy in her minge.”

I was starting to think Captain Gunny had a death wish, or he was just really fucking stupid. But to my amazement, Captain Strife chuckled, then started to laugh. For a long moment the crew and myself watched as this pegasus just…laughed, finally she looked at Captain Gunny and said, “Now that’s a new one.” She looked back at her pegasi, and asked, “Did you hear that? An ice thingy in her minge. I have to admit…Gunny right. Yes, I admit that it’s been a long time since I’ve heard anypony speak to me in that way. You must have some big ass balls on you to speak to a mare like me.” The laughter died in a split second and her voice turned back into that same icy chill that made my legs shake. “You know what I mean, a mare who has two massive plasma cannon’s pointed right at this piece of shit glorified balloon right now. Oh, and don’t forget the fifty pegasi I have on my raptor, ten in the air, and five behind me.”

“Captin’ Gunny’s got no ider what you be talkin’ bout’ Strife, Gunny didn’t say nothin’,” Gunny said.

“One more word out of your mouth and I’ll have my pegasi rip you apart!” Strife said, Gunny moved to say something anyway but she cut him off. “I’m serious dirt pony, one more word. Now if you don’t want to be shot out of the sky that belongs to The Grand Pegasus Enclave then I’d suggest that you listen up.”

Gunny tapped a hoof on Elliot’s paw then nodded toward Strife. The male twin cleared his throat, saying, “We’re listening Captain Strife, and let me apologize about Captain Gunny, he has a hard time keeping his trap shut.”

She looked him over like he was a side show at a circus, saying, “I can’t help but say that for a mutated freak, you and your sister amaze me. If I wasn’t hunting prey right now, I’d love to sit down and find out what you are or how you were made.”

“Bad case of killing joke that’s all Ma’am, nothing more. My sister and I had a run-in with it a couple years back,” he said politely.

“Hmmmm…I don’t see the humor but I’ve never been good with jokes,” Strife said.

“Can’t say that I understand it myself,” Elliot said. “Now how can we be of service today?”

“Simple, you can tell me where the unicorn calling herself Shadow Star is. Before you start telling me that she’s not on this sorry excuse for an airship, let me tell you first that we know she booked passage with you. A pegasus who gives us intel in Hoofington told us she was going to be on this boat…or airship err whatever you want to call it,” Strife said, sounding like she’d just stepped in a pile of hell hound droppings.

“It’s a sky carrier, also known as a sky ship, they were used in a country far south of Equestria a long time ago. Captain Gunny salvaged it and got it working again. We use it for transporting goods from one side of The Wasteland to the other. As for this pony, I’d have to say that we don’t know what you’re talking about. Our ship is too small to have passengers, the cargo hold is too full to keep a pony in it, and she wouldn’t be able to hide up here on deck. You can check if you want, but sadly all you’ll find is a few goods, some caps, and meds.”

Strife smiled. “Funny, because I find that hard to believe, you see we picked up on a distress signal from one of our sets of power armor. A set that belonged to one of four pegasi who vanished a couple hours ago when they went to Chapel to pick up this pony.”

Gunny started to laugh as he said, “Funny cause Gunny’s crew’s been wonderin’ how ye found The Bitter Cob.”

Strife whipped her head toward him. “I told you not to…”

“Yes, Gunny knows what ye told him, but what seems to be escapin’ dat head of snowy locks on yer noggin is dat this be Capin’ Gunny’s ship and there only be roomin’ for one Capin’ and dat be this ugly mug,” Gunny said, cutting her off, it was then that I realized that Sun Spot wasn’t in my view anymore.

Right when Strife looked ready to give the command to shoot Gunny, a loud ‘thwomp’ filled the air as something exploded from the raptor. That was followed a moment later by Gunny tossing something into the air with a mad laugh, I could tell right away that it was a pulse grenade. Strife was a quick pony though, her and her pegasi took to the air and managed to just get out of the way of the blast. She rounded on Captain Gunny, yelling, “Kill that filthy dirt pony!”

“Sorry to be the news of bad tidings Sniffles, but yer ship be goin’ down,” Gunny said, pointing his hoof at the raptor which in fact was falling from the sky slowly, two of the cloud engines on one side were gone. The ship was slowly sinking to one side as it lost half of its flying power.

“I’ll make you pay for that…” Strife started to yell, sounding more like her brother in her anger, sadly the rest of what she said was lost as Elliot moved over to one of the massive plasma canons on the back of The Bitter Cob and fired it right at the falling raptor.

The bolt of huge plasma exploded into green goo as it slammed into the side of the already dying raptor. It sizzled and started to burn away the hull, the ship giving off an eerie groan as it fell from sight. Gunny took the moment of hesitation from the pegasi to bolt for his battle saddle which was laying next to the hall that led to the rooms. He quickly had it on and ready, the long rifle popping out of its housing on his back. He aimed it up at the pegasi, saying, “Now let’s show ye scallawags what a dirt pony can be doin’.”

He fired, one pegasus falling with a bullet flying though his wing. He screamed as he fell, at least until his chin slapped into the railing on his way down. A spray of blood and a few teeth hitting the deck before his body vanished. I moved to get my own weapons to help fight The Enclave off. I should only need the shotgun I got from Bottlecap, so I picked that up in my magic and ran down the short hall. Gunny blocked my way, his gaze up at the fight unfolding over us.

As he fired again, he said, “Shadow, ya don’t be wantin’ to be seen. Don’t be worryin’ Captin’ Gunny will keep ya safe.”

“But I can help,” I said, trying to push past him, but my small stature was making it easy for him to push me back.

“Gunny knows ya can help, but we don’t be needin’ ya. Right now, The Bitter Cob be just a rogue bunch of strange ponies using an ol’ flyin’ ship. They be forgetting about Gunny and his crew after today. If they know you be on The Bitter Cob, they’ll keep coming after the crew and you,” he said firing again.

I could see his point, but I didn’t like it. I was tired of everypony else protecting me all the damn time. I could stand up for myself and a small part of me didn’t give two shits if this bitch came after me again. I’d put her down like the nut job she was, her brother soon after. But still, I backed up and said quietly, “Fine, but if you need me, just let me know.”

“Gunny don’t think he’ll be needin’ ya, but he knows where to find ya.” And with that he jumped back into the fight along side his crew.

Twenty minutes later, I saw Gunny was right. He didn’t need me, not at all. With at least two dozen pegasi dead and their raptor nothing more than flames and twisted metal on the ground, Captain Strife was forced to retreat with what was left of her pegasi following. She threw out a few curse words and a promise to find Gunny again when she had time, and then she was gone. The Twins landed on the deck panting hard, blood covering parts of them and their weapons. Elliot looked down at his bloody paw, saying, “Damn, I miss my talons.”

“Hey, at least you still have digits,” Sun Spot said. “I’m still not used to them.”

Gunny took a moment to look around, then said, “Looks like they be gone, Elmer…Elliot, whatever, go down to da Raptor and see what ya can find. Sunny be sure to find those trackers in da suits you took so they can’t be a followin’.”

“Aye aye!” They both said and were off again.

Gunny moved over to the side of his ship and spit over the side cursing under his breath, “Fukin’ Wasteland, thinkin’ ya can have ol’ Capin’ Gunny do ya? But ya can’t, he ain’t done yet, not by a long shot. So, ya can go fuck yerself.”

Great, not only was he crazy or mad, he talked to The Wasteland too, like it was a living thing. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers and this weirdo was my only hope to get back to my friends. I waited a moment for him to finish his cursing to The Wasteland before walking over to stand next to him, asking, “Are we going to be safe?”

“Aye, once Sunny takes care of da trackers, den…aye. Luck be with The Bitter Cob and her crew tonight, though it was a close call that was,” he said looking at me. “Gunny be apologized they tacked ya down. Won’t be happenin’ again.”

“You can’t promise that,” I said.

He shrugged, “Gunny can promise whatever he wants, don’t mean he’ll be able to keep said promise. Well almost anythin’, he can’t promise on findin’ good cheese, Gunny loves cheese, though not the blue stuff, smells like a rat’s arse. Tastes like whale bile.”

“O…kay… well then, what now?” I asked, not even wanting to jump down that rabbit hole.

“Be headin’ out again in a flicker. Need to make sure everythin’s sharp-shape. Go back to yer room and do somethin’. Gunny be callin’ you when he needs’ ya,” he said, and with that he headed back to the wheel of the ship yelling, “Make it snappy ye two, Gunny don’t got all day. Gunny be havin’ a love date with bottle later and things could get freakin’!”

I just shook my head and went back into Sun Spot’s room. Once there I took in a deep breath and laid down on her bed. Glory told me I needed to try to get some sleep. I tried over the past couple of days, but it was the same thing every time I tried. Nightmares followed by more, and more, and more. Ever since I left that dream world of Aquila’s, I’d seen the same thing, at least until last night. Last night I dreamt about Silver dying, I saw Tonto go down in a spray of blood, I watched Gigi get stabbed by Archer…Apollo…Aura’s father. As I closed my eyes this time, I knew I was going to see another one…and once I fell into a light slumber, my assumptions were correct.

I woke up three hours later, after pulling myself out of yet another nightmare. This time I got to relive Box Tape falling to his death, over and over again. I sighed and groaned as I dragged myself out of Sun Spot’s bed. I yawned and made my way over to her mirror that was propped up on top of her dresser. I took one look at myself and almost looked away instantly. I’d avoided looking at myself over the past few days because I was worried what I’d see. I wish I would’ve stuck to that now that I was seeing myself.

I looked like shit, there was no better way to put it, I looked like…shit. My eyes had sunken in since Aquila had taken over, my mane wasn’t anywhere close to being beautiful, it was flat and lifeless. The red in my eyes weren’t as bright as they’d been before and I’d lost weight. I know I always make a big deal to Stardust about him calling me fat, but that was mostly just me joking. All in all, I was a skinny mare by most accounts, excluding Wind Thrasher, she could pass for a super model in one of those old magazines for how skinny she was. Still, I wasn’t a big mare, even if it as a normal sized pony, add that to my shortness and I looked like a slightly underfed filly. That was before Aquila took over, now I could see my cheeks had sunken in along with my eyes.

I looked like I’d been starved for a couple of weeks, it wasn’t a good look on me. I needed some cookies with a chocolate shake on the side and something greasy to go with it. Shit, I think this is the first time I’ve truly missed Stable 28 and its food. Damn that stable had good food, and great cookies…I love cookies, not cake, I’m not a cake pony, just not my thing, but Cookies…yes please.

“Why am I sitting here thinking about sweets?” I asked my reflection.

“You know that most ponies would say that talking to your own reflection is the first step to going crazy,” Sun Spot said from the doorway, making me jump.

I gasped then frowned at her. “Dammit Sun Spot, are you trying to kill me?”

She giggled. “Nah, if I wanted to do that I wouldn’t have said anything. I would’ve just shot you and walked out of the room. Then I probably would’ve used my seniority against Elliot and made him clean up your corpse.”

I couldn’t help smiling a little. “I don’t think you’d do that, you’d get blood all over your room. Trust me I bleed a lot.”

“Duely noted, anyway, how’d you sleep?” she asked.

“How does it look like I slept?” I asked in return.

She shrugged. “Looks like you didn’t sleep at all, truth be told.”

“You’ve got that right,” I replied, going back to looking at my reflection, then trying to fix my mane as best I could.

“Anyway, Captain Gunny wanted me to let you know that we’re just arriving at New Appaloosa,” she said.

I looked back at her, “Are we going to be landing then?”

“No, the pony we’re meeting will come to us. She runs the shop in town and normally likes to come get her goods directly. Since you’re the pony who’s technically The Courier for the supplies, you’ll have to deal with her,” Sun Spot said. “I’ll warn you though, she’s a Ghoul, but a nice one. Oh, and she can’t talk, heard something a few weeks back that she had her tongue cut out by slavers or something like that.”

“I don’t mind Ghouls, as long as they aren’t trying to rip me to shreds. What’s her name?” I asked.

“Ditzy Doo, Funny because I’ve met her a couple of times before I was…” she gestured to her strange body. “Well, this.”

“Ditzy Doo? That’s the pony who wrote The Wasteland Survival Guide,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to meet her.”

I got up and started to head out of the room, all thoughts of fixing my mane forgotten. I was just going past Sun Spot when she stopped me, by saying, “By the way, when you talk to her, don’t call me Sun Spot okay. I go by Sunny when I’m around ghouls.”

I stopped and asked, “Why?”

“To put it simply, I was declared dead a long time ago. Ghouls were ponies who lived back then and a few of them remember me. Either for good reasons or bad. I don’t like dealing with ponies from my past, so please just keep it to yourself about who I used to be,” she said.

“Alright, no problem,” I said, as I pressed the rest of the way past her.

On the deck itself I saw a small wagon had landed right in the middle, a ghoul pegasus was just unhooking from it. I’d seen a lot of ghouls since I’d entered The Wasteland and still seeing a pegasus one still made me shiver. Their wings were almost skeletal with only a few feathers still hanging on, wings that they could still fly with somehow. This ghoul was the same, but apart from that, she was a lot different than others I’ve met in the past. Most of her coat was gone, the skin that showed looked rotten and sickly. She had a little bit of a glow to her and her mane was nothing more than a few stray straw colored locks holding on for dear life. When she turned to look at me I almost jumped with surprise. One of her eyes was…wrong, that’s the only way I could explain it, her eyes weren’t set the same. One seemed to be looking at me, the other was drifting off skyward…slightly.

She was very creepy looking even for a ghoul, at least she was until she gave me a gap-toothed smile and waved at me. She lifted a chalkboard that was hanging around her neck and wrote something on it quickly with her muzzle then turned it so I could see what she wanted to say, “Hi, I’m Ditzy, it’s nice to meet you.”

Her smile for some reason seemed to take away the creepy side of her appearance and replace it with something, friendlier. I moved closer, ignoring the slight odor that came off her like with most ghouls, and said, “It’s nice to meet you too, I’m Shadow Star.”

She wiped away the last message and wrote again, “That’s a nice name.”

“Thank you,” I said.

She wrote again, “No problem, now, I was told you had the supplies I ordered from Hoofington.”

“I do,” I said, looking around for Elliot or Gunny, spotting the hybrid, I said, “Elliot, do you have the manifest?”

He walked over to me and gave me what I asked for, “Yeah, Bottlecap always trusts me with it, since The Captain has a bad habit of spilling rum on them.”

Gunny laughed from the wheel of his ship. “Aye, but they be makin’ a good coaster. Captin’ Gunny don’t want to be goin’ ‘round and gettin’ rings on his nice desk. Things like that cost a lot of caps they do.”

“Didn’t you steal that desk from an Enclave raptor three weeks back?” Elliot asked with a knowing smile.

“Dat ain’t the point, also, ya can’t prove Gunny stolen anything,” he said with a smug grin.

“It’s stole, not stolen,” Elliot said with a sigh.

“Tis what Captin’ Gunny said, stop yer yammerin’ and let’s get this over with,” Gunny said.

“Aye sir,” Elliot said. “Anyway Shadow, all the information is in here and you’ll find the boxes or crates numbered in the storage area. Captain Gunny may not know a single thing about organization, but I’ve been able to fix that since I came aboard.”

I took the manifest in my magic and looked it over. “Thanks Elliot.” Then saw what Ditzy had ordered. “Let’s see, two boxes of ammo, one with energy cells, three with food stuff, and one with…note paper?”

She nodded her head then wrote, “That sounds right, apart from one box. There should be one with armor too.”

I looked over the manifest again. “Not seeing it, either Bottlecap forgot to load it or she couldn’t get it in time.”

She just smiled again, and wrote, “That’s okay, armor is hard to find. Not many ponies make it anymore.”

I felt a small pain in my chest as she wrote that. Silver was a mare who loved to make that kind of thing. One more pony with great talent who was gone now. I shook it off then said, “I know that all too well, though luckily for me I have a colt that travels with me who’s great at fixing up old armor and making it new again. He’s also great at upgrading it.”

She looked at my combat armor and frowned, then wrote, “I can’t see what’s different about that armor.”

I couldn’t help laughing a little. “No, not this, I’m using this until I get my own back when I find my friends again. I’m very far from home right now and my stuff was left behind. Long story, don’t ask.”

“Where are you from?” she asked…well she wrote it I guess.

“New Pegasus, I’m a courier with Equestrian Express,” I said.

“Oh, really? That’s amazing, I heard you died,” she wrote.

“Nope, I’m still here, just got taken to Hoofington of all places,” I said with a small laugh.

“Silver Belle the filly I watch over will like to hear that. She likes to keep up with DJ Pon3,” she wrote, then wiped it away and continued, “Do you have a copy of my book?”

“I do with my old stuff, though it’s not great for where I live and it’s missing pages,” I said, with a shrug.

She gasped then wrote, “I’ll be right back.”

She dashed to her wagon and came back a moment later with a book. She gave it to me happily. I looked down and saw that it said ‘Wasteland Survival Guide: New Pegasus Edition.’ She beamed as I took it, “Thank you, but I don’t have a lot of caps right now.”

She waved a wing at me, then wrote, “First copy is always free, I don’t need the caps.” She wiped that away after a moment then wrote more, “I didn’t write that book for profit, but to save ponies.”

I smiled then tucked the book in my saddle bags. “Thank you again then. Well let me get your stuff.”

I helped her load the boxes she ordered then took a huge bag of caps from her after. Elliot took the bag from my magic, saying, “I’ll put this in the safe, we’ll be sure to get it back to Bottlecap when we return.”

I thanked him then turned back to Ditzy, her wagon had caught my eye, it said on the side ‘Absolutely Everything’ so I had to ask, “So I’m guessing you have just about everything a pony would need huh?”

She wrote, “Most of the time yes, though the sign is a little misleading.”

“Would you happen to have a Pip-Buck master key?” I asked.

She took a moment to answer. When she did she looked sad. “I’m sorry, but finding those are next to impossible. I haven’t seen one in years.”

“Figured it would be too easy to just buy one I guess. Oh well, thank you though,” I said.

She smiled, then wrote, “Sorry, I can’t help with that, but if you really need one, try looking in stables that’re no longer active.”

“I might have to do that, thanks again Ditzy and it was nice to meet you,” I said as she went to hook herself up to her Wagon.

She wrote back, “Anytime, and next time I make a trip to New Pegasus, I’ll look you up. I like making new friends.”

She smiled again then took off. I watched her go until she was out of sight. Once she was, Sun Spot came out from her room and stood next to me. I took a moment to speak as the ship started to move again and asked, “Why didn’t we just go into town?”

“New Apploosa doesn’t like outsiders coming in lately. Something to do with a mare calling herself The Stable Dweller messing up some trade they had with Slavers,” she replied.

“Slavers? That town is part of the slave trade?” I asked.

She nodded. “Well it used to be, not anymore though. It was how a lot of ponies made their living there. Though I think the mayor in town doesn’t mind it being gone, he’s just trying to save face. It’s a nice town most of the time,” she said with a grin.

“Sure, if a town full of ponies willing to sell their own is nice,” I responded sadly. That was another thing in The Wasteland I wish I could put an end to. The truth was, I had no idea how. New Pegasus didn’t have many slaves around it, but if you got past the city itself and talked to normal everyday ponies, slavery was a worry they all shared. With The Romans around I could understand why.

Sun Spot nudged me, saying, “Don’t dwell on it much okay. Now come with me and I’ll show you how the navigation works, even if you don’t take to it well. It’s okay, as long as Gunny thinks you’re working then we’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but when that’s done, I’m going to jump into a memory orb. Our next destination isn’t for a while yet and I’d like to kill time. Time away from Captain Gunny and his strange ways if I can,” I said with a laugh.

At that moment Gunny poked his head down to look at us, “Captin’ Gunny’s ears be flamin’. What are ya talkin’ about?”

“Nothing,” we both said in unison, then we started to laugh.

A few hours later I’d learned a lot about how navigation worked on a ship like this. Though learning and understanding weren’t the same thing. By the time I finished trying to help Sun Spot and Elliot with the ship and navigation, they both wanted to throw me over the side of the ship. Thank the Goddesses Sun Spot and Elliot were both too kind to do it. I was now back in Sun Spot’s room with her. She was settling down to sleep as I pulled one of the memory orbs from my uncle’s box out. This one I knew had to belong to Night Stalker, I could tell now by the slight green or grey glow they had to them.

This one caught my eye almost at once when I saw a note under it that said…

Former headquarters of The Children; still can’t find a way to open the door. This memory orb is a bust, unless I can find the passcode I need. Keeping this one just incase I need it later.

I found myself looking at the shimmering orb, trying to work up the courage to go into it. As I looked down I asked Sun Spot, “So why does Captain Gunny call himself a sky pirate? From what I can tell, all you three do is trade with other ponies.”

“We do most of the time, but when we get a chance now and then, we do go after Enclave ponies or raiders and take them for everything we can. That’s how Gunny makes most of his caps. Like that power armor we stole from the dead pegasi and a few other things inside that downed raptor from earlier. You’d be surprised how much you can make with Enclave stuff being sold to the right buyer. Gunny has a contact in most major settlements across The Wasteland,” she said, laying down and looking at me from her pillow.

“Why do you do it? The Enclave is a big enemy to make isn’t it?” I asked.

“Sure is, but I’m sure you can tell by now that Gunny isn’t scared of anything, I don’t think he’s capable of it. As far as why we do it, well, Gunny hates The Enclave more than most ponies. Something to do with his dead wife I think. He’s never told me the whole story, but I do know that she was a rogue pegasus from a small settlement near Thunderhead,” she said.

“Oh, so his wife was killed by them I guess,” I said.

“He thinks so, but nopony knows really. He says that she was taken away one night when they were near San Flankcisco, he hasn’t seen her since. Far as he knows, she’s dead and he’s been going after The Enclave ever since. He thinks they found her one night and took her,” Sun Spot said rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling.

“No wonder he’s lost his marbles, he must’ve loved her a lot,” I said frowning.

She just shrugged. “From what I’ve heard, he’s always been like that, though I’ve only known him for a few months. He takes some getting used to, but all in all he’s a good pony.”

I smiled at that. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“So, are you going to stare into that orb all night?” she asked.

“I think so, I’m just worried something’s going to happen while I’m in the orb,” I replied.

“Don’t worry, I’m here and I’ll keep an eye on you, and if something does happen, I’m not going to leave you behind,” she said with a smile.

“Okay, but you can try and sleep while I’m in it, I don’t know how long it’ll take,” I said.

“No problem with me,” she said, rolling over again.

I took in a deep breath and concentrated my magic on the orb. Like one of the other orbs I’d found of Night Stalker’s, this one was protected. His voice echoed into my head when the connection was made, “Who is the only one I ever trusted?”

As soon as the question was out, I felt something cut off my airway. I gaged as I felt my throat close-up. Only a little air was able to make it out as the orb started to kill me slowly. I almost panicked, but something inside refused to let me. Concentrating with all my power, I said in my head, “Greta Bloodtalon!”

The pressure got worse and I started to gag more, Sun Spot was on her paws, coming over to me to see what was wrong. My eyes bulged and my tongue stuck out as I tried desperately to pull air into my lungs. How could that answer be wrong? Night Stalker never trusted anyone apart from Greta. That’s why he was surprised when she left him. Who else could he have trusted apart from…

“Shadow what’s wrong?” Sun Spot said, but I ignored her as the answer hit me.

I thought desperately, “No pony but yourself!”

The pressure vanished in an instant as Night Stalkers voice echoed in my head, “The only pony who can be trusted with everything you hold dear is yourself.”

The world melted away…

What the hell kind of lock was that for a memory orb? I knew Night Stalker was paranoid but holy shit, that was crazy. How the hell had he even done that? He was a fucking pegasus not a unicorn. To be honest I was starting to wonder why I kept finding so many of his orbs. It was like they were drawn to me somehow either that or I was the luckiest pony in The Wasteland, or the unluckiest depending on how you looked at it. Either way, I found myself now in the body of none other than Night Stalker himself and he was in The Crystal Empire.

This had to be many years after the megaspells, because in the distance I could see the shimmering barrier and the black wall of smokey death. Night Stalkers body felt like crap too. Every joint seemed to be on fire, his vision was fading a little and I could feel a stinging pain on his flanks right where his cutie mark should be. Still even with the pain in his limbs and on his flanks, he moved like he didn’t even feel it. He was wearing a cloak of some kind and I could feel through him that something was pulsing on his chest where the cloak clasped together.

The old Pegasus moved down the streets of The Crystal Empire, doing his best to move around the small crowd of ponies. The odd thing was that nopony seemed to look at him, as if he was invisible. Maybe he was using a stealth buck or something like it. I couldn’t tell, but still he moved down the road, heading for a small building not far from the palace.

Instead of walking in through the front door, he made his way around to the back, passing though a small alleyway. Once he was there he moved to the back door and pulled out a small green gem and pressed it to the lock. The gem looked like it was hovering in mid air as he used it. The gem flashed and a moment later I could hear the lock click. After putting the gem back into his pocket he slowly opened the door. My host took a moment to look around inside before slipping through. He quietly shut the door behind him and locked it again.

He moved through the dimly lit room, which looked like some kind of lab and made his way to another door. This door was open slightly and voices could be heard coming from the crack in the door. Night Stalker moved an eye up to the crack and looked out at the two stallions who were talking. One was a very short unicorn stallion who could barely see over the counter he was standing behind. He had a bright blue mane with a violet coat and bright grey eyes. His cutie mark was just visible under his lab coat, a six pointed blue and white star with a zebra glyph in its center.

He was talking with a Pegasus who was just as tall and big as Night Stalker, his eyes were a bright green, his mane a mix of gold and black, and his coat a grayish blue color. He had a nasty scar right across his muzzle, I couldn’t make out his cutie mark because he was in a military uniform. He looked like the conversation he was having with the short unicorn was making him angry.

“Listen to me Dwarf Star, I know you have your mother’s notes and her old spell book. The Enclave needs them, before my father decides to pay The Crystal Empire a visit and takes them for himself,” the tall pegasus said in a deep growling voice.

Dwarf Star, that short unicorn was my distant grandfather. I guess the short stature did run in the family, he was close to the same height as me. Poor buck, at least me being a mare it wasn’t so bad being so short, but for a stallion it had to be a hard life when he was young. My grandfather cleared his throat and spoke in a kind and gentle voice, “I’ve told you before Night Rain, that I don’t have access to them, I never have. Minuette and Amethyst Star hid those things in the old library, a library that nopony knows where it is. I don’t know if Night Stalker knows where that is, but I was only a foal when my parents died and they didn’t leave me with anything to find the location.”

Night Rain slammed is hoof down on the counter, shouting, “I don’t believe you Dwarf Star, I know that you have information on Falling Shadows! You’ve been looking into that old project for twenty years now and you mean to tell me that you still haven’t found where your disgrace of a mother left her fucking notes!”

I saw a flash of grey light around Dwarf Star’s horn for a moment as his eyes flared with anger, then he calmed himself down, saying, “I have looked into that project because High Council Pony Thunderlane asked me to many years ago, wanting to know why the project was locked down. With the loss of so much intel when the megaspells hit, it’s been a hard journey. I told the same to your little sister Nightingale just last week.”

“Thunderlane wants that info and he knows you have it,” Night Rain said.

“Then he’s wrong, if the High Council Pony wants to find the information on the project he helped make then he should look into it himself. He worked with both of my mothers, he should know more than I do,” Dwarf Star said, sounding bored. “Now if that’s all you came here for then please leave my lab.”

Night Rain pointed a hoof into Dwarf Star’s face. “I am a Captain in The Grand Pegasus Enclave special military force, you can’t kick me out.”

“And I am the most powerful unicorn in The Enclave and the head of the city council, also the head of the science department, and a well respected citizen of The Crystal Empire. You have no power over me here Night Rain, now get out of my shop and if any of your family wants to come back here then it had better be your mother or your sister, because I don’t feel like talking to either you or your brother anymore. You disgust me, to think you two had the balls to kill your eldest brother only because he defended your father,” Dwarf Star said.

“Watch your tone with me Dwarf Star!” Night Rain shouted.

“No, I don’t think I will,” Dwarf Star said, his horn flashing. A moment later Night Rain was lifted in the air. “Don’t come back to my lab again, if you do, our conversation will end with you as a pile of ash.” and with that, he blasted Night Rain right out of the front door.

Night Rain slammed into the road and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. He picked himself up looking like he wanted to go back in and kill the small unicorn. But he must’ve thought better of it, because he opened his wings and flew away. Night Stalker waited a moment, making sure Night Rain was gone before opening the door from the back room and walking into the front.

Dwarf Star looked over at the door and a small smile came to his lips as Night Stalker pulled down his hood and his body came into view. I guess the cloak he had on was what was making him invisible. Dwarf Star looked my host up and down, saying, “Were’d you get a zebra stealth cloak Night…”

Night Stalker cut him off. “Don’t use my name here Dwarf Star, there’s no telling if my son left a bug behind.”

Dwarf Star’s horn flashed, and a gray light flew all over the room. He shrugged, saying, “Nothing that I can find.”

I felt Night Stalkers body relax a little as he said, “Good, but still I’m not going by that name anymore.”

“Then what should I call you?” Dwarf Star asked as he walked over to the door to his lab and closed it.

“Absent Moon will do, I haven’t used that name in over forty-five years. The ponies who knew me by that name are all dead now, so I’m not worried about using it. As for the stealth cloak, well let’s just say an old zebra friend of mine gave it to me a couple weeks back,” Night Stalker said as he looked around the small laboratory.

“I’ll just believe that you killed a zebra to get it,” Dwarf Star said.

“Either you’re testing me or you really haven’t kept up with your mother’s research over the years like I’ve heard. Because if you try to steal a cloak like this from a zebra even by killing them, the cloak turns into black mist,” Night Stalker said as he went over to a small picture standing behind the counter. It was a picture of Amethyst Star and Minuette, Min was holding a bundle in her hooves laying on a hospital bed, both looking happy.

“I was testing you,” Dwarf Star said, walking over to stand next to my host.

“I remember this day well, Min wanted so bad to be a mother, the day she decided to get pregnant was the happiest day of her life. Strange though that you’d have this picture of your moms and not others. I know they took a lot with you before…well you know,” Night Stalker said.

“It was the only one the ponies who raised me had. I’ve found a few of Minuette and Amethyst either together or separate but none with me in them. When my mother gave me to the ponies who raised me, I don’t think she was thinking much about me remembering her, honestly I don’t think she cared,” he said.

My host looked over and down at the small stallion. “She cared, she cared a lot. But losing your other mom broke something inside her, she didn’t know what to do with herself once Amethyst died. She started working against The Children and The Ministries toward the end, she even tried to get me killed before she up and vanished. Giving you up I think was her way of making sure you didn’t fall into her madness.”

He sighed and turned away from the picture. “So tell me Absent, what are you doing here?”

My host took another minute to look at the picture of his old friend before saying, “I know what you told my son about not knowing where Min’s notes and research was, but I know that’s a lie.”

“Even if it was, that doesn’t mean I’m going to give it to you Absent. The only reason I said you could meet with me today is because you said you had information for me about my mom and that’s all,” he said.

Night Stalker laughed. “I don’t need her notes or anything like that. I know everything about Falling Shadows. I even know where the notes are kept and everything of Min’s, even her grimoire. If I needed them, I would’ve just gone to her old library and taken them.”

“Then why bring them up and why are you even here?” he asked, sounding suspicious.

“I want you to do everything you can to hide those notes and her grimoire. Make sure there are more spells around the entrance to the library and start spreading rumors about the notes being lost. Anything you can to make ponies forget about the project and who started it,” my host said.

Dwarf Star looked at my host curiously. “Out of all ponies I thought you’d be the first to want to know more about what happened to the project. From what I’ve learned over the years, you’ve been trying to find a way to unlock your own project so you can use it.”

“That was true, until a few months ago,” Night Stalker said with a deep sigh. “I’ve learned something about what my project was truly meant to do and because of that, I can’t let anypony ever use it. So, I’ve decided to make sure nopony ever can. I’ve set things up and I’m getting close to finishing what I have to do, but before I can, I need a pony like you to help me.”

“I’ve always figured Falling Shadows was some kind of weapon, what’s new about that?” he said.

My host sighed again then looked toward the door to his lab. “Let’s go into your lab before I explain what I can.”

“Sure,” Dwarf Star said, leading the way.

Once they were in the small lab, and Dwarf Star turned on the lights, Night Stalker said, “It was never meant to be a weapon itself, it’s true purpose was to turn Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon again, only with full control of her mind.”

“If that’s true, then how can anypony else use it? Princess Luna died forty years ago,” Dwarf Star asked.

“Minuette said that the same thing can be done to another pony who’s powerful enough to survive the transfer of power. It’d be hard because they would have to let something very powerful into their mind and body to do it and activate the project. If they can win the fight against this being they would be the most powerful pony in history. But if they lose the battle against this being, then that creature would take that power for itself. But that’s not what makes the project scary,” Night Stalker said.

“From what I can tell, that’s plenty scary,” Dwarf Star replied.

“True enough, but it’s nothing compared to what truly will happen if the project is used. You see, the power it would take to make a pony into a powerhouse like Nightmare Moon could and will open a rift into places like Tartarus. If that happens, then something dark and powerful will get free and our world will be doomed, more than it already has been. His power would make the war look like a fight in a bar,” he said.

Dwarf Star paled at that. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am, that’s why I want to make sure nopony can ever use it,” Night Stalker said.

“What could be that powerful?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you everything about him, honestly I don’t know much myself. But an old zebra that lives with my friend told me about him, if you want to know more then you’ll have to research him yourself, his name is Mezzanotte,” Night Stalker said.

Dwarf Star started to tap as his lower jaw as he thought. “Sounds zebra like to me, or old Zebra, I think it mean’s midnight. Well if you think he’s that scary then I guess I have no choice but to help you Absent, but I’m not sure what I can do apart from hide some notes and cast a few spells.”

“First you won’t be helping me as much as my daughter, her name is Nightingale. She’s going to be coming to The Crystal Empire soon with her foal. She’s taking on my zebra friend’s old role as guardian. She’ll tell you what she’ll need help with. As for me, all I need you to do is help me make some memory orbs,” Night Stalker said.

“Why memory Orbs? Also, what kind of spell do you want me to use if I do? Some will just copy the memory, others will remove the memory from your head and some can only block the memory,” he said.

“I need you to make the orbs because one day, a descendent of mine will need them. Don’t ask me how I know this, but trust me, she’s going to need all the help she can get and I have to make sure she gets it,” my host said.

“So, you can see into the future now is that it?” Dwarf Star asked, sounding like he thought Night Stalker had lost his mind.

“No, but something else can, he was the one who told me what would happen and what I needed to do to stop it. Even everything we’re doing today will only slow-down the events until she is born,” Night Stalker said, then in a quieter voice he said, “She will also end the curse.”

Dwarf Star rolled his eyes. “That stupid curse? I can’t believe you of all ponies believe in that kind of thing.”

“Trust me, one day you will too Dwarf Star,” my host said, sounding sad and angry at the same time.

“I don’t think I will, but let’s say I did believe you, how do you know this ‘her’ can stop Falling Shadows or this curse?” Dwarf Star asked.

“For Falling Shadows, I don’t know, even the…thing…that told me what I needed to do wasn’t entirely sure it would go the way he hoped, but it’s the best chance,” Night Stalker said.

Dwarf Star rolled his eyes again. “Okay fine, and the curse?”

Night Stalker took in a deep breath then recited. “Hooves of fate, tales of woe. The sights of your future are full of a dangerous foe. When the ponies of night fall at last, the mare who will rise off a deadly cast. Her power will be great, but her path will be cold. When the pony of shadows and light falls to the might, she will rise again with the purest of light. She will find the decedents of the night’s past and bring them to be one at last. She will defeat the last of the betrayer’s seed, and break the curse out of great need. Once this is done the curse will be gone, and the family of night can continue to live on.”

Dwarf Star blinked a few times. “So, you’re writing songs now Absent? How does any of that make sense? Did you visit some crazed zebra or something?”

“I didn’t write anything Dwarf Star. I heard that many years ago when I was in Las Pegasus, I heard it again from the same old zebra a few weeks ago. She hadn’t aged a day in all that time. She told me about a descendent of mine and yours that will one day break this curse. She will find the descendant of the one who betrayed The Children of the Night and kill them. But only after she brings the descendants of The Children of the Night together again. That is to say, the descendants of the ones of who were true to Luna and Equestria that is,” Night Stalker said. “And it has to happen after all of us are already dead.”

“This rhyme, or song or whatever it is, is just that, a bunch of words that sound pretty when recited, besides you don’t have proof that it’s even real. I think this zebra of yours is crazy or you are,” Dwarf Star said. “But I do know that my mother believed in this same curse, so I guess I can see where you’re coming from. I’m not gonna like it but, I’ll help you.”

“Good, I’d like to start now if that’s alright. All of the memories I tell you to copy I want you to, but leave them intact in my head. All but one,” Night Stalker said.

Dwarf Star shrugged. “I can do that. Which memory is it you need removed?”

Night Stalker stiffened a little as he said, “On the day the megaspells came, I was at The Children of the Night’s old base. I had two items I was hiding there from Minuette just in case she showed up again. We weren’t using the base anymore so I knew she wouldn’t look there for it. One was a memory crystal that belonged to a member of Luna’s old guards, the first Children of the Night. It has information on it that could be useful in understanding what Falling Shadows can truly do. The other item is something I can’t tell even you about, but it will be needed to stop Star Gazer, it’s deadly to the creature who is part of that project but only if a unicorn of great power uses it.”

“I’m guessing you’ll want me to take the memory of coming here out too then huh?” Dwarf Star said.

“You’ll need to copy this one too, but block part of this memory from me, just in case I run into a unicorn who can find the memory of today. I’ll need you to also lock the memory orbs with different questions to make sure they’re safe,” Night Stalker said.

Dwarf Star sighed. “Okay, but this is going to take a long time. I hope you’re ready.”

“I am,” Night Stalker said.

“Okay then, let’s start with that memory of when Equestria died,” Dwarf Star said, his horn glowing…

I came out of the memory orb slowly. When I did I looked down at the shining glass ball. My brain couldn’t even comprehend what was said in that orb. Somehow, someway, my great, great something great grandfather knew what was going to happen. He knew about me and what I was going to need so I could stop Falling Shadows. He also had something that could stop Star Gazer, something that was deadly to Aquila. He also said something about somepony called Mezzanotte. I know I’ve heard that name somewhere before, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it. Whoever or whatever he was, he was powerful and part of Falling Shadows. And just to top it all off, he thought I was the mare who could stop this curse on our family.

How was I going to find the descendants of The Children of the Night? As far as I knew the only ones I knew about were well me, Mom, Uncle Ori, Striker, Dad, Aura and her sisters. Also, Winter Frost and his Sister. Not only did I have to find the rest of the descendants if there were any more, I’d also have to kill one or more of them if they were the ones who betrayed The Children of the Night. What if it was one of my friends? How could I even think about doing something like that?

Right now, the only thing I can do is worry about getting back to my friends. Once I was with them, I could talk it all over with them. Then something else came to me. I needed to get to the old base in Canterlot. Whatever was left there was something I needed. So, I got up and shook Sun Spot who fell asleep while I was in my orb.

She rolled over and looked up into my face. “What’s wrong Shadow?”

“We need to go to Canterlot,” I said.

“WHAT!?” she said jumping out of her bed. “Are you nuts? Do you know what that city is like?”

“No, I’ve never read much about it since I left my stable. Why?” I asked.

“Canterlot is deadly to go into, it’s covered in a pink cloud that will either turn you into a ghoul unlike any you’ve seen before, or it will fuse you with the ground or buildings around you,” she replied. “Gunny showed it to us a month or so back, there’s no way you can go there.”

“It doesn’t matter, I have to go there. If I don’t, it might spell doom for The Wasteland,” I said.

“Doomin’ and gloomin’ be Capin’ Gunny’s Middle name!” Gunny said, as he opened the door to our room. “Be sorry ladies, err, whatever, but Gunny couldn’t help over hearin’ ya from the room yonder.”

“Captain, she’s crazy if she thinks she can go to Canterlot,” Sun Spot said.

“Maybe she be, or maybe she don’t be. Be depending on da place in the pointy pinky cloudy city she be needin’ to go,” Gunny said with a laugh.

“The Entrance to the old base of The Children of the Night, its located on the tallest cliff overlooking the city,” I said, wondering how bad this so called pink cloud could really be.

“Wait, you just need to get to the top of the tallest cliff, not into the city itself?” Sun Spot asked, sounding less scared.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Aye, then Capin’ Gunny may be able to help ya. As long as ya don’t need to be goin’ into the old pinky cloud of creepness, then ya should be okay. Though ya can’t stay too long, Capin’ Gunny heard alicorns be spotted there not long ago,” Gunny said.

“I’ll be in and out,” I said.

Gunny took a moment to think, it looked hard, then he finally said with a mighty laugh, “An adventure be waitin’ that it be. Maybe Gunny and his crew be findin’ some good lootin’ while we be there.”

“Captain, I still think it’s a bad idea. You know how dangerous the area even around Canterlot is,” Sun Spot said.

“Aye, but Gunny also likes an adventure and caps,” Gunny said with a mad smile. “First mate, head topside, and be changin’ our course fer Canterlot.”

“Sir…” Sun Spot said.

“All Capin’ Gunny want to be hearin’ is a proper ‘aye aye’.” Gunny said.

She sighed, and said, “Aye, aye Captain.”

“Dat be da spirit lass, now be off with ya,” he said.

“Thanks Captain Gunny, this means a lot to me,” I said as Sun Spot headed out of the room.

He waited a moment for her to get to the upper deck before he turned back to me, all his humor gone. “Listen to Ol’ Capin’ Gunny Shadow. If anythin’ be happen to Gunny’s crew or ship, he’ll hunt ya down till ya be dead or Gunny be. He only be doin’ this because Bottlecap said Gunny had to go wherever ya said he did.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then said slowly, “We’ll be in and out, you can take whatever you want as long as it’s not the items I need. I know The Children of the Night had a lot of priceless things. You can make a lot of caps with this.”

“As long as Gunny be alive, den he don’t care much. Now head up to the deck too, time for ya to be earnin’ yer keep. Gunny might have to go wherever ya want him to go, but dat don’t mean ya can be lazy,” he said.

“Yes sir,” I said.

He smiled a little. “How many times does Gunny have to say it, I want a proper ‘aye, aye’?”

I smiled back. “Aye, aye Captain Gunny.”

And with that, I followed the captain up to the deck. Soon we’d be heading to Canterlot then to Aura. That’s if I lived through what I was about to do. “Aura, I hope you’ll forgive me for making you wait just a little longer. I’ll see you soon my love,” I said to the night air, then headed up to help Elliot and Sun Spot as we turned the ship toward a small dot in the distance.

Idiot Savant: Duuuhhhh…. You’ve spent so much time with Captain Gunny, that every once in a while, you’ll have some moments where you’re not the smartest, but you are the luckiest. With a +1 addition to luck you also have a chance to bank a critical hit in S.A.T.S.