Leaving Stratus in the state it was in after the attack, was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. As I climbed onto Thundercracker’s back and we flew out of The New Moon, leaving it under my father’s control, I looked out at the mostly destroyed city. In the short time it took us to stop the large Thunderhead from firing on the inner city, it had managed to destroy quite a bit. I could already hear the screams, the sirens and the pain flowing up from the once magnificent cloud city. I wanted to take a longer look before we left, I wanted to go down and help the hurt and dying pegasi and unicorns. Sadly, that wasn’t my role in this fight, it wasn’t my role to be a normal citizen of The Enclave, it wasn’t my role to help. As we flew down toward the cloud cover, I knew deep down that my only role on Equus was to either destroy and kill, or to die.

So, I looked away from the city, away from the pain, away from the hell I’d caused all to save my father and a dashite. If I’d known then as I do now that it would be the last time I’d see the city before my life changed forever, before the wasteland was thrown into a new kind of chaos, I would have taken one last look, because in only another few days, everything would change forever. Maybe I was like Night Stalker, all that mattered was making sure I fulfilled my own goals, for the greater good…the was the problem, I thought everything I was doing was for the greater good. I was trying to do better, but in reality, I might have been making things worse.

I let out a long sigh as we flew past the dark grey clouds that still blocked the sun from reaching the ponies of The Wasteland and entered the dim light of what was my home. As we flew down Thundercracker looked back at me, his signature smile no longer present on his face, as he asked, “So what’s the plan?”

“Yeah, I’d like to know that too Shadow,” Stardust said as he looked over at me, Solstice not far behind him as we headed toward the ground.

“The plans haven’t changed much, I have to go get something first, something important to Aquila and to Falling Shadows. I can’t say more, not until I know it’s safe. You two head to The Shadow Talons base and update Aura and her sisters on what happened in Stratus,” I said.

“Okay I figured as much,” Solstice said, flying a little closer to us, “Did you get what you needed to cure Aura? My mom hasn’t contacted me yet about it.”

“I believe so,” I said, pulling up the file on the Mark II, “I’ll contact Byte and sent the file to her Mark II. When Aura gets back home, I hope she can cure herself, if she wants to that is.”

“Long story, let’s just say she ran into Killing Joke, was turned into a pony, and we need to cure her,” I said.

“I still don’t see where the joke is with that or the killing part,” Stardust said.

“Am not!,” he whined. Then looking sheepish he added, “I still don’t understand.”

I was about to say something when Thundercracker chuckled, and said, “It’s easy Blue. She’s a badass griffon, they tend to fight with their talons and weapons made for griffons. With hooves, everything she knows about fighting is null and void. She can’t fight, she can’t survive, that’s the killing part. I’m guessing the joke was that she was turned into a pony at all, she must’ve thought about it at one point or said something about it. Killing Joke tends to flow around things like that. I met this one mare once who was turned into some kind of fish pony back east a couple years back. She said her sister and her were the same.”

“Fish…pony? That’s kind of weird,” Stardust said, looking a little creeped out.

“Nah they were kinda hot, and deadly as shit too if you didn’t watch out,” he said with a grin.

“Well, I did meet one, then I met her sister when she tried to stab me in the back while I was in the water. Too bad too, was kinda wondering what it would be like to play with her until that happened,” he said with a laugh.

“Now I know that’s a lie, no one can steal a kiss better than Greed,” he boasted.

“I’d say Solstice is better than you and Aura is even better,” I said with a small laugh.

“Wait a sec…did you KISS…” Stardust started to say as Solstice looked at me with murder in her eyes.

“Oh, look at that, it’s time to split up. You two get back to The Shadow Talons safe and I’ll see you in a while. BYE!” I waved as Thundercracker took my hint and banked off toward Spitfire’s Flight Academy that was just visible in the distance.

I could hear Solstice’s curses following me as I laughed. Thankfully they didn’t follow and continued toward Freedom. As the two of us flew toward the military base I said, “I’m going to contact Byte, make sure you land a small distance from the gate to the base, so they don’t blow us up.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how you’re going to get us in,” he said, sounding a little nervous, “I mean I’ve tested my armor against bombs before but not the large kind that I’ve heard they have.”

“Hey, you wanted an adventure, now stop being a baby and do as you’re told,” I said in a sweet voice.

“I bet you do, now shush,” I said as I used the broadcaster that linked all three Mark II’s together to call Byte, “Byte, you there…Cookie Byte!? It’s Shadow!”

“I’ve told you not to call me that! What do you want Shadow!?” she replied, sounding annoyed.

“Back at The Shadow Talons’ base. Where are you? Did you save your dad?” she asked.

“White Oak had some kind of transporter that got us close to New Pegasus, didn’t take us long after that. Now tell us where you are…” she said, before I heard a scuffling and then Aura said.

“Shadow, are you okay? We saw what looked like explosions from the direction of Stratus,” Aura practically yelled.

“I’m fine Aura, but since you’re there too, I have an update for you and some good news,” I said.

“Tell me when you get back here, we’re a little busy at the moment,” she said, sounding a little panicked.

Steel Rangers put up a blockade around Freedom, and they hired The Unchained Talons too. They want to take over The Strip, Freedom, and take down my talon company.”

“Goddesses dammit,” I said, pressing a hoof to my forehead, “Why did they have to do this now? We have enough problems with Aquila.”

“It gets worse,” I heard Byte say followed by, “Can I have my hoof back please…thank you,” she cleared her throat, then said, “We also lost contact with Wind Thrasher last night. She was watching for The Sins like we asked her to, and The New Wrath made it back with no problems from what we heard, but then she just stopped sending us updates. We were going to send a griffon out to check on her, but then this blockade happened. We’re getting worried that The Sins did something to her.”

“Double dammit!” I yelled, “Is it possible that the broadcaster she was using just stopped working?”

Aura replied, “Not sure, but right before the blockade came up, we got a request to check out something that might have attacked a small settlement a couple of kilometers from the ruins of Gravel City. The report said that the twenty ponies who lived there were all found dead.”

Aura sighed and I heard utter sadness in her voice as she replied, “The report said that every single pony was drained of blood. Either bloodwings attacked the city, which would be odd since we don’t see them this far west very often, or Wind Thrasher finally lost herself to the bloodlust.”

I felt as if my heart was breaking as I heard that. “I can’t believe she’d lose herself that bad. She’s been holding out this long, she’d never let herself go that far even if she slipped.”

“Shadow, you’ve been gone for a while, she’s been slipping more and more over the past couple of weeks. She almost killed three of my griffons a couple days before you got home and only Stardust was able to pull her back from her madness. I fear with him gone and her being isolated to watch The Sins, she might’ve lost herself finally,” Aura said.

“I…I can’t believe she’d do that. When I’m done with my small side mission, I’ll head to the old ruins and see if I can find her,” I said.

“Shadow? What side mission? You were supposed to come back to Freedom when you were done with your dad,” Aura said.

“That’s part of the reason I called, I have to make a small pitstop, I’m with Thundercracker. It won’t take long, but this is important,” I said.

“What’s more important than checking on a friend or helping us push back the Unchained Talons and The Steel Rangers?” Byte asked.

“I have to get something to make sure Aquila can’t activate Falling Shadows,” I said.

“Yes, but she also needs something else, something that no pony apart from I think Minuette knew about. I can’t say more, but as soon as I’m done getting it, I’ll go check on Wind Thrasher. Make sure you tell Solstice and Stardust if they make it home. Or if you can get a message to them before they run into The Unchained, do so,” I said as we came closer to Trotston.

“Um…Shadow…are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Thundercracker said, pointing a hoof down at Trotston’s high walls, and the fifty or so Steel Ranges who were blocking its mighty gate.

“Oh shit,” I said, with my Mark II still up to my muzzle, “Um…Aura or Byte, how many Steel Rangers are blocking Freedom?”

Aura answered this time, saying, “I haven’t seen her, The Queens have been keeping them out and they’ve been talking with Hazel I believe.”

“No pony or griffon, my dad’s with the Unchained but I haven’t seen Gina. They only have probably forty griffons and they’re just making sure my griffons aren’t leaving town…why?” Aura asked.

I looked toward the mountain side of Trotston and saw thirty or so Griffons flying near the nearly invisible barrier. “I think they’re making sure that The Shadow Talons can’t help Trotston…”

“I think Gina and Sapphire are trying to get the Mark II, the Mark II that you have Byte, they must think that your uncle still has it. Either that or they want all the tech from Trotston and are finally going to try taking down the city,” I said.

“Don’t worry, Trotston can hold its own against them for now, but I think it’s time somepony had a talk with The Steel Rangers and put a stop to whatever Sapphire is doing. Aura, see if you can talk with Hazel, she’s got a good head on her shoulders. See if you can find anything out and maybe try to make her see that their new Elder is losing her mind…or something. I’ll see what I can do once I finish my quest and check on Wind Thrasher,” I said.

“But Shadow…what if they find a way to break down the defenses to Trotston?” Byte asked, sounding even more scared than before.

“Byte I need you to calm down, you know as well as I do that Trotston has been able to hold them back before. Help Aura and The Shadow Talons for now, I’ll find a way to make them leave your town alone,” I said.

“I have an idea, but for right now, I want you to stay inside The Shadow Talons’ base, don’t leave at all,” I said.

“Byte, I was put in charge of you, your uncle told you to do what I said and I’m saying don’t leave the base! You’re going to be in danger soon and so will your Mark II. Do as I say!”

“I will,” I said, then I continued saying to Aura, “Aura, I’m going to be sending a possible cure to your Killing Joke to Byte’s Pip-Buck. I want you to use it as soon as you can.”

There was a long pause before Aura said, “I don’t think there’s going to be time for me to do that Shadow, my Talon company needs my help…”

I cut her off too, “Aura,” I paused, “Aura, if things were different, I’d tell you to take as much time as you need to decide if you want to take the cure or not. I know it hasn’t been easy adjusting to your new body, but I also know that it’s something you’ve kind of wanted in the past. Sadly, we don’t have that kind of life, you’re right The Shadow Talons need their leader, they need Aura Bloodtalon. They can’t be led by a pony, especially a pony who can’t fight like she normally does.”

There was another long pause before Aura said, “If I stay like this, it will make things so much easier for you…and for me…for us.”

I felt my heart rate speed up at her words as a fluttering of love for my strong griffon ran through me. Then I said, “I love you Aura, no matter what you look like. But I can’t lose you just because you decided to stay a pony for me. Yeah, it might make being with each other easier, but fuck that, easy is boring. I love my griffon, I love you, the real you. Now give your orders to your sisters, and make sure you take this cure. When I see you again…I want to see the true Aura…okay.”

I heard a small sniff then a chuckle. “I guess I’ve been kind of useless lately. Fine, but you owe me…I hate staying out of a fight.”

“We’ll see,” she said, “Well you stay safe and make sure Wind Thrasher’s okay, I’ll send a scout griffon out through another exit and have them get a message to Solstice and Stardust.”

I heard Byte start to make some comment, but I cut the connection as we flew past Trotston and toward the Academy. As we flew over the Steel Rangers, I saw one look up at me, the Elder armor easy to spot even from up here. A moment later the connection to Sapphire I knew was coming finally pinned my Mark II.

“Hello, Equestrian Express, Shadow Star speaking,” I said, as kindly as I could manage.

“You look like you’re in a hurry up there Shadow, and who’s the buck you’re riding? I didn’t know you’d made friends with The Sins, last I heard they wanted you dead,” Sapphire said over the connection.

“OH you know me, I’m good at making friends. Well, it’s not surprising with the Pegasi seeing as how I am Enclave…or was, did you know that? I had no idea until recently, wild huh?” I said with mocking cheer.

Thundercracker was covering his muzzle with a hoof trying to hide his laughter as Sapphire responded, “I shouldn’t be surprised, it would explain the crazy shit you’ve been pulling off since we last talked. You’re just another disgusting freak like the rest of The Enclave. Hey, I have an idea why don’t you come down here and we can have a better chat, face to face. I promise we won’t fire on you or that featherbrain.”

“Nah, I have places to be, more wild shit to pull off you know how it is, Rain Check?” I asked.

“Sadly, I won’t be here long, I’m just here to get what belongs to the Steel Rangers and then I have to get back to the Hidden Sands. Funny I got an odd report that a short mare destroyed The Palisade just the other day, wouldn’t know anything about that would you? If you had something to do with it, I think I may have to just give you a small prize for taking such a powerful weapon away from that mad stallion,” she said.

“I have no idea what you mean, oh and if you’re looking for The Mark II that was in Trotston, I’m afraid you’re a little too late. I thought you would have heard by now that it was sent away a few weeks back,” I said.

“Yes, but the trails went cold when we found the ponies Rusty sent out to hide the Mark II from us, after we killed both of those ponies. I know he’s keeping it here, he wouldn’t let it out of his sight,” she said.

“Huh funny, last time I saw their Mark II it was on the foreleg of a filly, you know Rusty’s niece, right?” I mocked.

For a moment there wasn’t anything from the other side then I heard Sapphire say, “That’s impossible, Rusty wouldn’t have given something like that to a filly.”

“I don’t know, my mom left me her Mark II and I’m only a year older than Byte is,” I teased.

“Why would you tell me this? Unless you’re lying to help Trotston,” she said.

“Maybe I am maybe I’m not, or maybe I helped Byte get away and took her to her grandmother to keep her and the Mark II she has safe and away from you. I’m heading there now to see the old mare to see how things are, you can meet us there if you want. I’m sure the Annihilators would love your band of Unchained Talons and Steel Rangers near their base. I’ll be sure to tell them you might stop by,” I said.

“Maybe I am, but if you ask Rusty, I’m sure he’ll tell you he doesn’t have the Mark II anymore and if you ask about his Niece, he’ll also tell you she’s not in the town anymore. Anyway, it was wonderful to talk to you Sapphire I can’t wait till the next time we see each other. Do have fun with you little stand off and all that jazz, I’m going to go get something important from Spitfires Flight Academy,” I said laughing as I did.

She was yelling as she replied, “I’ll find that little filly and take back what is rightfully mine! Even if I have to kill the little bitch to get it and as for you Shadow when we see each other again, I will kill you and I’ll take your Mark II as well. It’s the only way to stop what’s coming!”

“So angry Sapphire, you know what, I kind of miss the old you. The one I met at the raider camp; power turned you into such a bitch. Stress will do that to you, careful you keep an eye on that blood pressure. Anyway, I must go, see ya!” I said and closed off the connection.

“She used to be, but I think something happened to her. She’s lost her mind and I don’t think there’s any way to fix her sadly,” I said as I readied to send the messages to Byte.

“What are you going to do? She’ll figure out sooner or later that Byte is in Freedom,” he said.

“I know, but there is something I know well about the Steel Rangers,” I said as I sent the two messages, one was the cure for Aura, the other the conversation I’d just had with Sapphire.

I chuckled sadly. “No, it’s that an Elder must always be a levelheaded leader, and that they never hurt foals, no matter who they are. It’s deep in their Creed if you look hard enough. I learned that from an old elder who looked after me when I was young. If Byte is smart, and I know she is, then she’ll use what I just sent her to show Hazel that Sapphire is not fit to lead.”

“Me too, if not, at least it will buy us some time to do what we need to,” I said, with a deep sigh.

He was silent for a while as we flew farther away from Trotston and closer to Spitfire’s Flight Academy. The journey to it before hadn’t taken all that long apart from running into Stardust who was brainwashed, and my mom with the Sin’s, still it was long enough that I was still surprised when Greed flew us over a rise, the same one where Aura, Wind Thrasher and I watched Wingnut first go down to the gate. The memory of the way he jumped and the look of utter panic on his face when Aura scared him, still brought at smile to my face. It was amazing how fast we’d arrived at the old base. The Annihilators had a scary reputation, but in reality, they weren’t half bad ponies. They were just Xenophobic, like most Stable ponies were. I’d seen how some of the Stable 28 survivors acted at times while they tried to settle in Sandstone. They were doing well, but at the same time, they did anything they could to avoid contact with anyone they could, if they could help it.

Javelin was trying to fix that for her ponies, she’d opened trade and communication with Trotston, and she was trying to lead them into mixing more with outsiders. I hoped the old mare could pull it off, because no matter how much The Annihilators wanted to keep separated from The Wasteland, it would someday find its way in. Stratus just learned that lesson in a devastating way, it was a lesson I’d learned myself when my home was destroyed. Even if they could keep the outside world out, they still didn’t have enough ponies to keep inbreeding from happening. In a generation or two, they wouldn’t be able to keep their community going.

“Yeah,” I said as we flew down toward the blown apart town just outside the gate, “Just thinking to much. Anyway, let’s go say hello.”

His armor activated as he landed a few meters away from the gate. “I’ll do my best to shield you if they try anything, but I can’t promise my armor will do much.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said as I walked past him and toward the gate where six stallions stood, all of them aiming rocket launchers at me.

“Don’t take another step closer or you’ll be turned into nothing more than meat,” one said.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. “Tell Javelin that Shadow Star The Courier is at the gate. I have free passage to enter Spitfire’s Flight Academy.”

“Nice try kid, but we all know the Courier Mare is dead, has been for weeks now. Might wanna try listening to the news now and then, you can’t just put on some random duster and go around calling yourself The Courier!” the same guard yelled, sounding pissed that I’d have the nerve to pretend to be The Courier.

“Yeah!” another stallion yelled anger filling his eyes and voice, “She was starting to bring some hope back to the area, and you have the balls to go around acting like you’re her! Get out before we all blow you to The Goddesses!”

I didn’t have time for this, “Listen here you stupid excuses for guards!” using my magic I wrapped my telekinesis around all six of their weapons and ripped them away, lifting them over the gate and aiming all six at them. I was a little surprised at first, I’d been practicing my magical hold, but this was a lot to take at once. “Go get Javelin before I blow all of you to the goddesses! NOW!”

“Holy shit,” the first guard said as the other five backed up, “She just…how’d she do that?”

Greed chuckled and walked up next to me, saying, “I’d do what she said, and quickly to, The Courier’s had a long day, and she doesn’t have much time.”

“Yes…yes sir,” the second guard said then looked at me, “I mean yes ma’am we’ll go get Javelin right away!” and with that he bolted for her office.

The rest of them all waited, watching me with fear on their faces as I held their weapons up in my magic, still pointing them at the guards. It didn’t take long for the old mare to make her way over to the gate an amused smile on her face, the guard that ran off close behind. “See I told you Ms. Javelin, she’s saying she’s The Courier.”

Javelin ignored him and laughed. “Shadow Star, if I hadn’t seen you with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it was true. Last I heard you’d died.”

“I thought my friends would have gotten word to you that the story of my death was wrong,” I said.

“Honestly, I’m not too surprised. Yes, I heard you’d been spotted a couple of times lately and I did hear something from one of your friends, but I don’t believe everything I hear. But seeing you, I guess I shouldn’t have mistrusted the rumors so much. Come in, come in and please do give my guards back their weapons,” Javelin said as one of the guards moved to open the gate.

“Of course she is, and I wouldn’t go around talking about her size to much young buck. This mare has seen and done more in her small time in the Wasteland than you’ll ever do or see in your life. Now get back to patrol,” she said.

“Yes ma’am!” he said then started yelling out orders as I put their weapons down on the ground for them before walking past the gate with Thundercracker following close behind, his shield vanishing.

“So, tell me Shadow, what brings you by our community? Knowing you, there’s more to your visit than just to catch up with an old mare or to make her guards look incompetent,” Javelin said with a smile, “Also I must hear the story about how you came to befriend a member of the Sins.”

Thundercracker nodded his head, for once his face didn’t have its wide smile. “I owe her my life and she’s proved to be a good friend. I’m no longer a member of The Sins.”

“Ah, but from what I’ve heard of your former group of killers, there is no leaving them, unless you’re killed,” Javelin said as we walked toward the cracked and broken-down runway.

“Well seeing how their former Leader Pride who happens to be my uncle Oricalcos is no longer a Sin, I’m sure some rules can be broken,” I said with a chuckle.

“Your uncle?” she asked looking a little shocked, “You mean Pride the shadow monster you destroyed a few weeks back?”

“It’s a long story, but he wasn’t destroyed, only hurt. He’s switched sides and was helping me on my mission,” I said.

“I really need to have you catch me up on what’s been going on, we don’t get much news way out here as you know. Do you have time to sit and catch up?” she asked.

“Sadly no, I need to grab something from the place where The Stranger took me before. I don’t have much more time than that,” I said.

“I had a feeling you’d say that, oh well it can’t be helped, but remember you owe me a good story when you visit next okay?” she said with a smile as she turned and started leading me toward the Arrays.

“If I get time then I will. Anyway, any news around here? Has Dr. Gauze made any more progress with the cure for Wind Thrasher yet?” I asked as we got closer to the Shack where the hidden lift was that would bring me down to the power supply for Falling Shadows.

“Oh, with the help he’s been getting through the strange communications device Aura dropped off a few weeks back, from that Unicorn, yes he think’s he’s found something. He left a few hours ago to head to Freedom with three of my guards to go talk to The Shadow Talons. We tried to get them to come to us, but I guess something’s going on there, so I gave him permission to leave and get what he found to your bat pony friend,” Javelin said with a smile.

“Wait…He found a cure? He knows why she’s losing herself to the blood lust?” I asked, stopping to look back at the old mare.

“He didn’t tell me much, not that I’d understand half of his blabbering, but he was excited,” she said.

“Stardust will be happy to hear that,” Greed said, “Though it’s too bad Wind Thrasher’s not with him.”

“She’ll be fine, I’m sure of it, after this we’ll go find her and tell her she might finally be able to be her normal self again,” I said.

Javelin smiled, “She was a sweet thing when I met her, but from what I do understand from what the Doctor told me, she’s slowly losing her ability to tell the difference between what’s a pony and what’s food. I will pray that you are able to help her in time.”

“Well, this just means I need to get to Wind Thrasher sooner rather than later,” I said as we reached the shack. Then I turned to face Javelin, “I know that your settlement and Trotston are still trying to work things out to bring yourself to find a lasting peace, but I was hoping there was something you could do to help them.”

Javelin lifted an eyebrow. “We haven’t had communication with them for a few days. What’s going on?”

“Elder Sapphire of the Hidden Sands Steel Rangers is getting ready to attack them. I’m sure they can keep them out and fight them off if they have too, but if you could find a way to help them, I’d be grateful. It might help your two settlements find a lasting peace and maybe help both of your groups out in the future,” I said.

Javelin looked toward the hills that blocked her view of the city. “Trotston is under attack from Steel Rangers huh. My granddaughter is there, and I do like Rusty, he’s a good stallion,” she looked back at me anger on her face, “I’ll do what I can to help them, we’ve just gotten a new kind of long range missel up and running the other day. I’ll personally make sure those Steel Rangers never bother Trotston again and show them why you never mess with The Annihilators.”

“Thank you, Javelin,” I said, “But try not to kill to many of them if you can, just scare them away. Not all of the Rangers are bad, they are just following a crazy elder. Have a little mercy if you can.”

“I’ll try my best,” she said, then looked at Greed, “If you want me to help quickly though I might have to borrow your handsome friend though. We could use a flyer.”

“No, I’ll be fine, if you can help them with Trotston then please do, I’ll be back soon,” I said.

“Okay, I’ll try to make this quick,” he said blowing me a kiss then saying, “So where to wrinkles?”

I thought Javelin was going to yell at him for calling out her age, but she just laughed richly and started leading him toward her office. I turned away after a moment then went up to the shack. With a sigh I did what my father had to open the door, and went in.

It only took me a few minutes to bypass the terminal inside and get into the elevator. The trip down to the deep underground cavern was also quicker than I remembered, and soon I was walking down the long hallway that led to the barrier that blocked the way to the final large door to the huge cavern. Just like Aquila had when she was controlling me, I walked right past the pink magic and headed toward the chamber and soon had the large door open and was heading down the slow lift, my eyes still gazing all around the amazing place. As the platform moved down there was a spike of pain in my head and once again, I was pulled into Night Stalkers memories.

I rode the large lift down to the last level with Greta on one side of me, in her griffon power armor and surprisingly an old zebra I hadn’t seen in forty years on the other. My body still hurt after the beating and branding I’d taken from my sons, but at least Greta’s medic was well trained and was able to help make a potion that healed my wings. Though they still hurt, but more from my age rather than what had been done to them a couple weeks back.

I was still surprised that after so long, Zephan A.K.A. Noire when he was still a Child of the Night, was still loyal to me. When we’d found his tribe, I expected him to be angry after so many years of no contact while I set up the Enclave. He hadn’t been angry though, he’d been overjoyed to see me again, Greta on the other hoof took a little bit of time to get Noire to calm down. Apparently, after he heard what Greta did to Bab’s, he’d been wanting Greta dead for some time.

“I still do not understand why you would trust this griffon Night Stalker,” he said glaring over at her with his red and orange eyes.

“I told you to call me Absent Moon now Noire, and I trust Greta with my life,” I said as the old lift rattled its way down.

“I don’t know Moony, I’m not sure I trust him after so many years, why do we need Noire anyway?” Greta asked.

“I need anypony or griffon I can get on myside to help me put a stop to what we started so many years ago,” I said as we reached the end of the lift and I headed toward the overlook.

“You talk about trust Absent Moon, yet you let this traitor into your confidence. She spent the past few decades trying to kill anyone who helped with Falling Shadows.”

“Oh yeah and you spent the past forty years doing what zebra? Oh, right, you started your own tribe, a tribe of zebra’s who hate everything but themselves!” Greta yelled.

“Would both of you both shut up!” I said as I stopped before the steps that led up to the control room, “We have a mission to complete, and I don’t want to be down here long.”

Noire looked around, his eyes scanning the massive amount of power running up the walls of the large cavern. “I do not see why we needed to come down here Absent Moon. This chamber is only the power supply. Yes, the Mega spells stored here are a small part of the project, but the real power is under the tower.”

I winced as one of my injuries flared up again, followed closely by my real problem, the whole reason I was risking so much to get as much done as I could before the end. “I just need to leave a message for the mare who will finish what we started.”

“You’re going to leave a message down here? In a place where no pony but us can get into?” Greta asked, I could see the concern in her eyes when I looked back at her. I wasn’t sure yet, but I had a feeling her medic had figured out what was wrong with me and told her. She hadn’t left my side for long ever since I get out of bed.

I ignored her and looked at Noire. “Do you remember that old Zebra I ran into at your camp?”

Noire tilted his head to one side as, he replied, “I do, Xio is a wise old mare, but also a little mad, some say that she is star struck in the mind.”

“She’s not crazy,” I said as I remembered the old zebra mare, and her prediction, both of them.

“I am not so sure about that my friend; she is good with the foals or else I wouldn’t let her stay in my tribe. I also enjoy her stories,” he said with a slight chuckle, “But I can tell you that she is quite mad.”

I smiled as I looked back at him. “Let me ask you this old friend, when did you start letting Starkatteri into your tribe? From what I remember, your kind shunned them.”

The look that came to both Greta’s and Noire’s eyes was priceless as Noire said, “Xio is not Starkatteri, I would know, she is not marked as they are.”

“Oh, she is and I’m only telling you this so you’ll understand what I’m about to say next, also you will not take any action against her when you get back, if she is still there,” I said and before they could say anything I continued, “I’ve met her twice now, once forty years ago right before the mega spells fell, the second just yesterday. She hasn’t aged a day since, so I know that something is keeping her around. I don’t know why, but I do know that her predictions come true.”

“Don’t start telling me you believe in that shit,” Greta said, looking disgusted.

“I hate to agree with Greta, but she is right, if she is what you say she is, you cannot trust her. I also do not believe she can be the same mare you speak of if she has not aged. You must be going mad yourself Absent Moon,” Noire added.

I just shook my head. “Forty years ago, she told me a few things. I didn’t believe her then, but I do now. She told me that one day I would regret making Falling Shadows, that I would lose everything I built if I stayed on my path back then, and that no matter how hard I tried, I’d fall from the empire I would help to build only to be saved by a creature I had no right to be saved by.”

Greta’s eyes went wide as she looked at me. She remembered that day well, the day I’d almost fell to my death after my branding, the day she saved my life. “I still don’t want to believe that anypony can tell us what our future holds, but I can tell that you do, so I’ll still follow you. Why do we need to leave a message for this Mare? Who I she?”

I sighed deeply as I walked past the steps that led up to the control room and went to the other side. It only took me a moment to find a large crack in the side of the rock wall next to the control room’s supports. I pulled out two things, one was a recording I’d made just a few days ago while I was getting ready to start this mission, the second was something I didn’t understand but Xio had said it was important, I was honestly surprised it was still at the old house. It was a simple photo. A photo I couldn’t stand to look at because it broke my heart when I thought about the fate those two befell. Keeping the frame down, I placed it and the recording in the crack and turned away from them both. She said they would stay hidden until she found them. I wasn’t sure how this mare, so far in the future would know where to look, but I’d given everything to do better, I’d given everything to make sure I stopped the evil that would one day, fall onto what was left of Equestria.

Once I was done, I finally answered my oldest friend, “I don’t know who she is, all I know is that someday, Falling Shadows will be activated, someday it will release something evil into our world.”

“What evil do you speak of? Falling Shadows was built to do one thing, give the power of the stars to Luna. No pony can handle that power but her,” Noire said.

“Falling Shadows will give the power of the stars to a pony, but it was never meant for Luna. We thought it was, but we had been tricked from the beginning. I’ll tell you all I’ve learned as we head to Los Pegasus,” I said as I slowly pushed past them.

“Wait as sec Moony, I helped with the project, I may not have known everything about it like Min or Amethyst Star, but when it was finished, it was meant to only work for Luna,” Greta said.

I shook my head slowly. “It was meant for Luna, but it will also work on anypony who has even the smallest hint of Star Magic in their body. Like Luna did when she was Nightmare Moon. When she was brought back to herself, she still had that spark inside her.”

“Yeah, so what? No pony has ever had power like that apart from Luna,” Greta said.

“True, but that will change in a century or two, but also you have to remember that there is still a creature on Equus who is made of pure starlight,” I said.

Noire started to shiver as he said, “I thought Minuette destroyed her? The lab was sealed away, that thing cannot survive long on Equus.”

“She will survive and she’s the key to making sure the Mare I spoke of has the power to stop the darkness Falling Shadows will unleash when it’s activated,” I said starting off again.

“But what evil? You didn’t tell us what you’re blabbering on about!?” Greta said to me following.

“I’ll tell you in time, but right now, I need to get something from The Lucky Horseshoe, then we need to make a trip to see Dwarf Star…” I said as my two allies followed…

The sound of my blood hitting the stone floor of Minuette’s hidden library was like a constant reminder that my life was coming to an end. I’d fought hard to make it this far, only to end up killing one of my own colts and his team in the very place that would soon become my own tomb. If it wasn’t for my power armor, I’m not sure I’d had made it this far. I felt a tear fall down my face as I looked down at my youngest son. His face was half melted by Plasma, his own power armor smoking and ruined by my hooves. I winced at the blood falling out of the few bullet holes that managed to make it through my armor. The injuries themselves weren’t too bad. Nothing vital had been hit, but with my illness as bad as it was now and with the blood I was losing I knew I didn’t have long. Slowly I took another step past the body of my son and the five pegasi he’d taken with him to try and kill me and looked up at the last living pony in the large library with me.

She was blocking my way, tears running down her face as she said, “Father, why did you have to do that? I know he betrayed you, but he was your son.”

Nightingale had always been a beautiful mare, strong, kind and fearless, just like her mother. I took another slow step closer and said in a weak voice, “I didn’t want this to happen my angel, but I couldn’t let him kill me, not yet.”

She looked past me at her brothers ruined body and held back another sob, “You said he wouldn’t be here?”

“He wasn’t supposed to be, I tried to make sure he was far away, but he was smarter than I gave him credit for,” I said wincing, “Your other brother is still safe, at least he should be if he stayed in Stratus. Is your mother still in Thunderhead?”

Nightingale nodded as she tried to come to terms with the new reality of her life. “She has no idea you’re here, honestly she tries not to talk about you if she can.”

I nodded slowly trying to ignore the pain in my body and the pain of my illness trying to stop my heart with every beat. “When I’m gone, it will be your job to take over for Noire and myself. Dwarf Star knows about this place too, but he won’t tell anypony. After tonight, the three of you, and Greta will be the only ones to know about this. I’m sorry I have to ask so much of you my angel, but somepony needs to protect the secrets here and everything else I told you about. Do better than you’re old father my love.”

“I’m not sure I can do this father. I’m not as strong as you, I don’t even understand everything that you’re trying to protect. I still don’t see why you think you’re going to die,” she said, a sob escaping her mouth before she could stop it.

“You’ll understand in time, Noire will teach you everything you need to know. You can trust him,” I said.

In a flash she ran over and hugged me tight, I winced and held back a scream of pain as best as I could as she said, “I love you daddy.”

When she pulled back, I moaned in pain but said, “I love you too my Angel of the Night. Now, I have a couple of things left to give you before I finish what I came here to do.” I exited my armor and nearly fell over until she caught me helping me stay up right, “Thank you love. First, I want you to take my Power Armor, keep it safe but make sure you do what I said you should with it.”

“You don’t need to know, just do it and make sure it’s hidden where I said to hide it,” I said getting my hooves steady again then pulling my last healing potion out of my satchel I drank it down quickly, nearly sighing as I felt the healing magic slowly close some of the wounds, “Second gift I have for you is this,” I lifted the small broken crystal that was around my neck, “Make sure you and whomever you pass your legacy down too keeps this safe. One day there will be a mare who needs it.”

As I gave it to her, a quick flash of green light shot out of it and into my eyes. I had no idea what it meant but I didn’t really care. Nightingale looked at it then nodded and put it around her own neck, “I’ll keep it safe father.”

“I know you will now when I go into the chamber make sure you close the door behind me. The lock will only open for my line and Greta’s so you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone bothering my body,” I said as I headed to the bookcase. As I approached something popped out of the one of the books and flashed over me. By now I was used to this, over the years of helping with building this mighty weapon of war and death, I’d visited this site the most. If everything went to plan, then soon no pony would be able to use the project. I looked back at my young daughter and gave her the best smile I could. “Be strong, stay headstrong, protect pony kind. As of this day, I pass on the leadership of The Children of the Night to you Nightingale. You will always be My Angel of the Night.”

“Father…” she started to say, but I just shook my head and turned away from the future of my blood line.

I hadn’t had the heart to tell her that I’d ordered Noire to take out my other son before the night was finished. By the time morning came, three of my four children would be dead. The first my oldest, died to protect me from the accusations of Thunderlane and my two other sons. My third born just died at my own hooves trying to stop me from locking down the Project his new master wanted for himself. My second born would die tonight, by the hooves of a former enemy turned ally. The last and brightest of my children was all that was left. A mare barely into her twenties and being put into a situations that was bigger than her or anything in the rotten Enclave.

As I walked father into the room, I heard the door behind me hiss shut and the bolts lock into place leaving me in a small dark hallway leading to the last door. The door that would take me to the place where I’d die. As I took that first step toward my end, part of the words that old Zebra told me came back to me in a flash. “When father sees the oldest son fall by traitorous hooves, the prophecy shall be known to be true. Father will slay the third no matter how hard he fights, by the father’s lips, he will end the second born’s life. Only the youngest shall live, a filly of great strength, she shall keep the line of the Night Stalker safe. For the tree to grow strong to save this great land, the weakness must be trimmed away for the leaves to expand. The one to stop the Zony of black, will one day be born to a family of ash. When you see the signs of this great fate Soul of Moonlight, you must do what is right, to bring forth the agent of light.”

I chuckled at the words I remembered. “And here I thought all zebras could rhyme, oh well.”

I pushed the last door open and even after seeing it a thousand times, my eyes went wide at the chamber beyond. It was blinding for the first few moments, a pulse like a slow heartbeat flowed softly throughout the chamber almost like it was alive. Most ponies would think it was just coming from the Mega spell chambers in the chamber above, or maybe from the massive amounts of power flowing up to this place from below. I knew better, the heartbeat was real, and it was coming from the massive spell that was still active to this day. It was two hearts in sync, and it was from the two brave souls who gave up their own lives to protect the Crystal Empire from the narcotic necromancy Megaspell that was set off right as the rest of the Mega Spells destroyed my home. Prince Shining Armor and his wife Princess Cadence had no idea what I’d created under their city, but Cadence could feel part of the magic stored down here. She had pulled on that magic with her Alicorn strength and used it to fuel a protective spell to save her city. When she nearly failed her husband joined her, the two were turned to crystal and their souls were trapped to keep the black smoke of death from ever penetrating their city. Their bodies were still frozen in place in the throne room above. The mega spell chamber they pulled from was still running at nearly 99%, it would still be nearly full when this damned project was stopped for good.

I looked around the chamber taking in the pure white walls that went up high to meet fifty feet above at a single pillar coming down to the white metal floor. This chamber was more of a dome than a chamber really. At the top of the pillar were ten large cables snaking off into the ceiling to connect them to the ten Mega spells over this point. At the bottom of the pillar were only three things. One was a large display screen three quarters of the way down, a terminal near the bottom, and a single stasis chamber. It was the stasis chamber I needed. Thanks to Sweetie Belle and her friends tower one at the Lucky Horseshoe, tower three in the Badlands, and tower four in Baltimare, were all locked down. Tower two, was the only one that was still working. Without the other towers, Falling Shadows could not be activated. The bad part was that this location was almost a pure copy of Stargazer, just a lot more powerful and better built. No pony can use Falling Shadows with the other three locked down true, but if the wrong pony found a way to get in here and if they knew what they were doing, they could recreate a creature like the one that was made in Stargazer. I didn’t have a Pip-Buck Mark II, so I couldn’t do what Sweetie Belle had, but I could do something to make sure this location stayed locked down until they day she came to finish my last mission.

I slowly made my way over to the stasis chamber and it opened with a hiss. I ignored the voice of Minuette telling me about the risks of entering the control pod and climbed in anyway. I laid back into the gel like padding and rested my head into the mind scanner. The glass door closed, and prompts started showing up on the display inside the glass over my face. I barely had to think as I did what I needed too to end my life and save my home. One last warning prompt came to my view…

General Night Stalker, you are trying to activate the mind melding feature of Falling Shadows Tower 2 Crystal Palace. Access to Tower 1, 3, and 4 is locked down by unknown software. You will not be able to use the full power of this Project.

By entering this Control Pod, you are going to be put into a stasis like sleep. Your body however is showing signs of major damage.

1. Multiple Injuries from bullets
2. Radiation has damaged some of your DNA
3. You have a cold
4. Lack of sleep is affecting your mental state
5. Taint exposure detected, body suffering from elevated heart rate, damage to three ventricles of your heart making it have to work harder to pump blood to your brain. Damage to the lungs, damage to your muscles, eyesight declining, liver failing, kidney’s about to fail, spinal cord decay detected, brain slowly decaying.

You are dying General Night Stalker; you have an estimated 1 to 2 weeks to live. Stasis can extend your life for up to twenty years. If you enter a state of stasis, this Control pod can not be used until you leave, or your heart stops. This site will be completely locked down until that day or until are pulled out by a member of your family.

You have chosen to put most of the power for this stasis chamber, that being 90% to your heart, if you do this your brain and other organs will slowly die over time, there is no knowing how long this will keep your mind alive. Are you sure you want to activate this Pod and Lock down Tower 2?

Before I made my final choice, I looked at the slight reflection in the glass over my face and praying that the old zebra wasn’t crazy, I sent my message the mare who would hopefully see this memory. “Listen up kid, I don’t know if any of this is real or if I’m losing my mind because of the taint, probably both. By the time you see this I’m sure you’ll have gone through a lot of shit in your young life. The zebra told me you’d face trials like no other before you and at a very young age. I know that the path that’s been set in front of you sucks. Take it from an old buck like me, I understand. I watched my parents die to a massive snowstorm in the mountains outside of the Griffonlands, I was only four years old when that happened. They gave their lives to protect me from the cold and the storm, using their own bodies to keep me safe. I was trapped for two days until a small patrol along with a young griffon who was with them found me. I was lucky, always had been from the day I lost my parents. I could have died, but I didn’t, I didn’t understand it back then what my parents did for me, but as I grew, I started to understand it. I’m only alive today, because of ponies and griffons and even zebras like my parents. I’ve watched my parents die, I sat that the death bed of the old griffon who raised me while I was being shunned by the same community that once called me brother, I saw my adopted sister die because of a stupid war, I heard about the deaths of the ponies who took me in when I was a teenager by the hooves of zebra sympathizers.”

I took a breath trying to hold back the utter despair trying to work it’s way past the mental block I’ve held it behind for so long as I continued, “I saw my team slowly be torn apart by magic I didn’t understand, I had to watch one of my closest friends go mad at the loss of her mare friend, I was once again saved by the princess I looked up to with near worship as the first bombs started to hit Canterlot. I saw my country destroyed by magical bombs of utter hate and evil. I watched the Wasteland be born. I’ve seen more than most ponies could ever deal with and yet I made it to this point, all because of the strength of the ones who helped me get here. All because of the sacrifices those before me made so I could live.”

I paused for a moment letting my message sink in, hoping that one day she would see it, hoping she would understand what I needed her to understand. “There are things from my life you can learn from, but if you’re seeing this then you don’t have time to watch every part of my life, so I’ll give you the quick version of what you need to learn. First of all, this world sucks and I’m sure you know that by now, but what I mean by it is simple, you’re going to lose ponies or creatures you love. Don’t let it rip you apart, I know it’s hard to let the anger go away, honestly it never does, it never will, but you can learn to channel that anger to help save others. Remember the ones you love if you lose them, but don’t lose yourself because of things you can’t change, learn from your own mistakes, and keep moving forward. Second, curse or no curse, don’t let it stop you from finishing my mission. The crystal you have will give you what you need to destroy it’s curse once and for all so what’s left of the descendants of The Children can live on in pease. Follow what it’s trying to tell you and things will work out, ignore it and you’ll watch it eat away at everypony you love until you’re almost the last one left. Our line isn’t meant to die quickly, we’re meant to suffer until we take our last breaths.”

I let that sink in too before going on again, “Third, you need to put an end to Falling Shadows. I’m sure you know that by now, but I’m sure you don’t know how yet. It won’t be easy; you’ll need to find all three Pip-Buck Mark II’s to make this work. I hope the zebra was right that you’d be able to do this, but if you don’t know what I’m talking about then find a ghoul who used to go by the name of Button Mash, he can tell you about them and probably where to find them. If you can’t find him then I’m not sure how you can do it, but they need to be found. Applebloom’s Mark II will unlock Tower 4, Scootaloo’s will unlock Tower 3, and last but not least, Sweetie Belle’s will unlock Tower 1. If you want to destroy Falling Shadows, you’ll need to unlock Tower 3 and 4, then you’ll need to come here to Tower 2 and make sure the system is up and running again. I don’t know how long what I’m about to do will last, but it should buy you enough time. Once they are all unlocked and ready to use again, you’ll have to go to Tower 1 and get into the Lucky Horseshoe. Go to sub basement three, and make sure you set all four towers to terminate themselves. Don’t worry about anything happening to any ponies around the towers, the system will just wipe all of the data and destroy the power sores for each mega spell letting them slowly fade away.”

I paused again as pain from my heart raced through my body. “Fuck that hurts…where was I? Oh right, once this is done Falling Shadows will no longer be a threat. Be warned, if Aquila is free of her host or in control of it by that point, then you’ll most likely not be able to stop it in time. I hope this doesn’t come to pass, but if it does then your only hope of saving Equus from eternal darkness and pain is to work with Aquila. I don’t know what she’ll be like when she’s free of her cage, but from what I was told by the Zebra, she’ll most likely think that Falling Shadows will make her powerful so she can stop the pain of our world. You might even think she’s evil. I can tell you this, she’s not what you think she is. Aquila is pure light made to protect and guard our world from darkness. Her mind might be tainted by the darkness, but she can never truly fall to it fully. If you help her find the light again, you may be able to save everypony. She is called the Key to Falling Shadows, not only because her power is the literal key to powering the full spell, but also because she is the key to stopping what might come forth from the darkness. Remember this, Love is stronger than any other force in the universe. It took me most of my life to realize that. Don’t let it take so long for you to find this truth for yourself kid. Be better, do better and always stay strong. Hate only poisons your soul. Trust me on that one.”

With that last part said I clicked ‘yes’ and the pod started rising so my body was facing the door that led into this chamber. The mind mapping system started scanning my inner thoughts and my site started to fade as I slowly fell into the deep sleep of stasis. As I slowly faded away Greta’s face came to my mind, and I smiled. “One last thing kid, if you find the one you love and are meant to spend your life with. Don’t push them away like I did…kiss them…hold them…cherish them…you never…know how long…you have with them…and always…ALWAYS…tell them…you love them… This is Absent Moon, A.K.A. General Night Stalker, former leader of the Enclave, former Soldier of Equestria, Former assassin for Luna, Former Husband of Lightning Dust, Father of four…I lived a long…hard life…and now its time to go. General…Night Stalker…Signing off, Good Luck to those who come after.” As single tear fell from my eye as my mind finally was pulled into the black, four words left to the empty room for none to hear, “I love you, Greta.”

I groaned as I came out of the two memories of my distant grandfather, the last one still fresh in my mind as I saw the last moments of the once great leader of The Enclave. No wonder no pony ever found out what happened to him after The Absent Ruins. From what I could tell, he’d killed everypony that got in his way except for his daughter Nightingale. She had been the second Guardian after Zaphan, when he’d been a member of Night Stalkers group he’d taken on a new name as Noire, Nightingale it sounded like had been named Angel of the Night by her father. It was just like my own father who had been called many things over the years as Guardian but most of all he’d been called The Masked One, by most and The Stranger by me. Every member of her family who’d protected this secret had a code name. It must be how they kept Falling Shadows secret for so long.

It was also hard to take in the message he’d left for me, some how a Zebra knew about me and what I needed to do to stop this project from starting up again. Night Stalker had been sick, he was dying and knew he couldn’t finish his mission, so he did what he had to, making sure one day, a young mare he’d been told about could finish his quest. Still no matter what he said, I couldn’t believe him about Aquila. He didn’t know her like I did, I’d spent the last few months getting to know the evil child of the stars and even longer with her stuck in my body.

This Zebra might think she was the key to saving Equus, but she was also a nut case. I’d stop Falling Shadows with out her, and once I did, I’d find a way to kill the bitch for good. That was the only way to keep the Wasteland safe. I’d find a way to fix my family’s curse and spend the rest of my life with Aura by my side. All I needed to do was get the gem with Aquila’s power inside and she’d be helpless with starting Falling Shadows. It was then that I remembered the other memory and the two items Night Stalker had left in the crack. He had said to follow what the crystal told me to do. So, just like in the memory I walked past the steps leading up to the control room and went to the other side. The floor and walls around here were a lot dustier than when Night Stalker had come here himself, but it only took a moment to find what I was looking for.

Reaching into the crack I pulled out the two items. The recording wasn’t in great shape but looked like it would still work. The framed photo was still in great shape though. I slowly turned the frame over and my eyes went wide at the beautiful yet simple photo within my magical hold. It was two mares, one was Amethyst Star the other, the beaming smile of Minuette, in the background I could see a view overlooking a beautiful view of the ocean. The two had a hoof around the other as they both smiled for the photo, cheeks pressed together. They looked so happy in the picture, like the war didn’t exist and the two of them were excited to be taking a day off work.

I smiled as I looked at her happy face. “You look so happy grandma, but I wonder why I need this.”

Shrugging I put the photo into my saddle bag then placed the recorder into my Mark II and played it. A second later Absent Moon’s voice came out of it, “This message is for Min to hear. Young mare if you found this, only keep playing it if Minuette is still alive and in front of you, if she’s not, then stop the recording until you find her…”

I shut it off cocking an eyebrow. “Minuette’s still alive? I mean Aquila said she was, but I can’t figure out how unless she’s a ghoul. If she is, then she has to be utterly feral by now. But I’ll follow your wishes grandfather, even if I never find her.”

I kept the recording in my Mark II for now then went back to the control room. I went up the steps, deactivated the security gun with the phrase I heard my father give it, then went into the room. As I walked into the mostly destroyed room, I could feel the pure light magic. It almost called to me like a drug of some kind. Not sure what was going on, I walked closer to the destroyed monitor where Aquila had hidden her gem and the feeling got stronger. I looked into it and saw the small diamond shining with inner light. I reached a hoof out and slowly lifted it out of its shitty hiding place. I could feel it now, Aquila’s light magic was pulsing from the gem, giving me an odd feeling of satisfaction and peace. I shook my head then placed it into my saddle bags as well. As soon as it was inside the feeling vanished.

“I was expecting this to be a lot harder,” I said before looking around quickly then with a shrug I headed back out of the control room and back toward the lift. I knew that there was a small chance that Aquila would figure out what I’d done, but so far, she hadn’t tried to stop me. Either she couldn’t see into my thoughts like I could to hers sometimes, or she was using me in someway I couldn’t see yet. Either way, I had to make sure she didn’t have this small part of her power. If she wanted to start Falling Shadows, she’d have to use the power she had now and not the pure light magic from the day she was pulled to Equus. Every little bit helped me.

I activated the lift and smiled as I watched the Mega Spell chambers, the platform and the control room slowly sink away from me as I left. As it slowly faded away from sight I whispered, “You’re going to lose.”

I was almost past the huge blast doors when something strange rippled through the cavern. It wasn’t a physical thing, more of an odd feeling rolling over the magical field all unicorns could tap into. It almost felt like something that had been long held back had been finally released back into the Wasteland. At first, I had no idea what it was, but the part of my magic that had once touched that strange Alicorn back in Hoofington seemed to shiver and snap. It was like she had left a piece of herself on my magic and that piece was suddenly gone. I hadn’t known it was even there until the spark of her strange magic just vanished with a feeling of utter sadness left in its absence. I wasn’t sure how, but at that moment I knew that Lacunae was gone and so was the so-called Goddess she was controlled by.

“What the fuck?” I said as I closed the doors to the chamber and started heading back down the hall. A moment passed as I worked my way toward the exit when there was a flash of red light just past the Shield Spell and Violet was standing there looking through the pink energy her eyes wide and twitching.

“Vio…let? I’m not her, no she’s not me, no yes I am, no that name is fake, I am a follower of The Night, Captain? General, where are you?” she looked utterly mad as she shook her large head, then her bloodshot eyes gazed at me again. “Who…are…YOU!?” she paused again, “Shadow how did I get here?” her eyes went bloodshot once more and a mad chuckle escaped her lips, “Hehehehehe, Star in the Dark, Shadow of the Stalker of Night, tee hee, the little filly with to much light!” again her eyes changed and rage filled them, “Where is my LOVE, are you the one who killed her? WHY DO YOU HAVE HER NAME, WHERE IS MY STAR!”

With out warning and to my utter shock, she jumped through the barrier and blasted a bolt of pure rage filled magic at me. The red beam nearly took my head off, but I was able to put up a barrier spell and dodge to the right. Her spell destroyed my weak shield like it was nothing more than weak glass, but my dodge kept the worse part of the spell away from me. Unfortunately, I still got caught by the edge off the spell and I felt pain roll through my body as I was thrown back.

I rolled then tried to back up toward the larger room where the door control was, so I had more space, as I said, “Violet, it’s me Shadow Star, what’s wrong?”

“Stop…Calling yourself Star! You’re the one who killed her, she was my love, she was my WORLD, Filthy zebra sympathizing scum! I thought I killed you already, no matter I’ll kill you again and again and again until you PAY!” Violet screamed trying to fire another shot of magic at me, but this time I was ready, and I blasted her first.

I knew I couldn’t do much to hurt an Alicorn, especially one powered by the Alicorn amulet, but my magical blast might knock some sense back into the crazed mare. I wasn’t sure what happened, but I had a feeling the death of the Goddess even with Violet blocked from her control had knocked a screw lose. She wasn’t making any sense, why did she keep saying her Star was dead and why did she think I had something to do with it.

“Violet stop attacking me and tell me what’s wrong, I’m Shadow, I’m your friend!” I yelled as she got back to her hooves after my magical attack.

She started shaking her head again moaning in pain as she brought a hoof to her head, “Too much, too many memories, please take the pain away, take away the pain! I don’t want to remember, I don’t want to be her anymore, please Trixie take away the despair! I can’t Live without her!”

It was like she had no idea who I was, but whoever this Trixie was I’d use it to keep myself alive. I really didn’t want to hurt Violet, but I would if I had to. “I’ll fix it, but you need to tell me what’s wrong Violet.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” she asked then her eyes glazed, and she said again, “Violet, it’s a pretty name, better than who you used to be, must embrace this, keep the memory of your Star at bay. It’s too much, too much, too…much,”

I took a slow step forward slowly drawing Misery, “Tell me what hurts, and I’ll help.”

Desperate hope filled the crazed Alicorn’s eyes as she said quietly, “Make the memories go away again. There’s too many,” her eyes cleared and for a moment the Violet I knew showed herself, “Shadow…”

“Yes, it’s me what’s happening to you?” I asked quickly taking another slow step toward her.

“The filter is gone, The Goddess is dead, my Alicorns are dead, memories…I’m not sure if they are mine, or this bodies, or if we are one and the same. I can’t fix it; I can’t stop them. The memories can’t be mine, there’s so much pain there, a fractured mind bent on hate and despair and wanting revenge. Also, feelings of wanting to fix what she created, pain for what she must do to stop the dark General. She…I…we? I don’t know, they went to Trixie…the Goddess looking for somepony, we were promised power and release from the pain. She was trapped, she was made to forget, or was I? Shadow…help me please!” Violet begged.

“I might have a spell that could help, but I’m not sure, can you hold on to who you are for just a moment, and I’ll try it?” I asked.

Remembering the memory spell I’d learned in Hoofington, I pulled deep into my magic, feeling as if I was ripping a small piece of my own soul to cast it. Then with a horn glowing red and layer upon layer of magic overlapping, I touched my horn to Violet’s shaking head and was ripped into a dark void of pain, sadness, madness, and memory.

This wasn’t like a memory orb where I could watch the memory stored from the point of view of another. No this was almost like living through Night Stalkers memories from the crystal, but I knew who I was as the memories flew by, I couldn’t make sense of them all, but three were strong and if I could have gasped at what I saw and who this was, I would have.

I watched as a much younger Minuette sat at a cluttered desk in non other than Stable Tech R&D department, Manehattan branch. I knew this because every feeling, thought and idea she was having was filling my head. She was tinkering with what looked like a crystal inside an older style Pip-Buck. She glanced over at the new Unicorn that joined last week. She was cute but so annoying, Amethyst Star had only gotten the job here because she was friends with Sweetie Belle. She wasn’t bad with magic and had good ideas sure, but she was so out of her element in this office. She also acted like she was smarter than everypony here. Well, maybe she hadn’t acted like that with Minuette, but she had made sure to glance over at her a few times and gave her a look, a look that said, ‘Yeah you think you’re the best unicorn here, but you got nothing on me bitch.’

Minuette sighed and kept working on her newest spell for the Pip-Buck. She knew she didn’t have to worry, if it wasn’t for her, Stable Tech wouldn’t have the Eyes Forward Sparkle spell or the Stable Tech Automatic Targeting Spell either. She’d invented them and many more for the company and even though Applebloom hadn’t given her much praise for suck a remarkable bit of magic, she was proud of herself. Though the day in and day out of stupidity and worthlessness she felt now days just kept Minuette in a glum mood every day. Honestly, she’d had times where she’d thought about quitting or maybe even just going home and just giving up on this hell of a life she was stuck in.

What was the point anyway? The war was getting worse, Equestria was losing, and she was helping this stupid company make experiments. She looked over at the new unicorn and saw she was talking with a very tall grey Pegasus with a nasty scar over his stunning green eyes. She rolled her eyes, “Must be her buck friend or something. Stupid bitch should know that if Applebloom or Button saw her letting random bucks into this department she’d be in a lot of trouble. What was it with most mares and their attractions to tall handsome muscle heads like him?”

She watched them for another few moments until Amethyst started nodding her head quickly before trotting over to her desk. Minuette sighed and made a mental note to tell her supervisor about this later and went back to work. Not two minutes passed before she heard a low voice say, “Pardon me, but are you Minuette?”

Minuette looked up, it was the pegasus. “Yeah, and before you start hitting on me, let me say this. First, I don’t do the whole tall dark and handsome thing, I think nerds with brains are more attractive and even if I was interested you don’t have the right equipment to please me. Second, you shouldn’t go around hitting on other mares when your mare friend is only a few desks away. Now go away before I teleport you out of this office and into the river.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Could you really do that? I heard that teleporting other ponies away from you is very hard magic.”

Minuette rolled her eyes and sighed. “I can do that and more, I don’t know who you are or what you know about me, but trust me when I say that magic like that is easy for a unicorn like me.”

She let a bit of magic flow over her horn. “I will give you a demonstration if you really want to keep bothering me.”

His smile never left his face. “You should learn to smile more Min, do you mind if I call you Min? Anyway, first of all before you go around making accusations about stallions you don’t know, you should ask them who they are first and what they want. I don’t have a mare friend; I was only here to recruit two of Stable-Tec’s best unicorns. Second, you may be cute, but I am not here to hit on you, I’m not into unicorns, though I do find your kind useful and delightful company. My names Captain Night Stalker with the Ministry of Awesome and the new personal guard to Princess Luna. I was sent here by Twilight Sparkle to see if a Miss Minuette would be interested in getting out of this boring job and doing something that makes better use of her magic and mind.”

Minuette was shocked as she muttered, “Wait a moment, you were sent here by, Twilight? Why would she send you to find me? Why would you even need a unicorn in the M.O.A.?”

“Can’t tell you all of the details yet, but I have a place in Canterlot where I’m bringing a few ponies to see if they would be interested in joining a new squad. I needed a couple of gifted unicorns, and I was told to see if Twilight knew anyone that would fit the bill. The first name she came up with was you, she said you two were friends and she hated that your abilities were being wasted here. But from what I can see, you really don’t want to be bothered so I guess she was wrong. I’m sorry I bothered you Min, I’ll let you get back to work. I need to see if Amethyst is ready to go,” Night Stalker said, before turning to head toward the fucking new mare.

“Wait a moment,” Minuette said, “Don’t tell me you’re recruiting that new empty headed dits over me?”

He slowly turned to look at her, the look on his face wasn’t so friendly as it had been a moment ago, as he said quietly, “First of all, I did my research before I came here, Miss Star is a very intelligent and powerful Unicorn who’s had a lot of bad luck in the past but is quite shy and kind. She is perfect for the job we have open in Canterlot. Now, I would like a second even more powerful and intelligent unicorn, but I am building a team and I won’t put up with mares who judge others when they don’t even know them. To top that all off when I was talking with Amethyst Star a moment ago, she told me she was to shy to talk with you because she’d heard you were the best spell inventor in this dump.”

“She did, now get back to your boring job working for this place and stop judging others,” he said before turning again.

“Wait…I’m sorry I…I just don’t know how to act sometimes. Honestly, I hate my job here,” she said as Night Stalker turned and walked closer. As he did, she whispered so only he could hear, “They use my inventions to put into their stupid tech and the credit goes to others. I have so many ideas in my head that I don’t know what to do with them, hell I don’t even have the equipment to build what I want or research what I feel like. I’m stuck behind this desk or workspace most of the day and some days I wish that I just won’t wake up the next day, because what’s the point anymore. I’m not helping anypony at this job.”

The sly smile came back to Night Stalkers lips. “Tell me Min, what if I told you that I could let you do all of that and more, help Equestria, help Luna, save lives, and research anything you wanted if you were to join us? Would you smile more and be a kinder pony if I could get you out of this dump?”

A small smile came to her lips as she nodded. “I’ll even try to learn more about her,” she said, nodding toward Amethyst Star who was a few rows back packing from the look of it, “Honestly when I was younger, I was a much friendlier pony. If you can get me out of here and let me do what I’m good at, I’ll smile as often and as much as I can, every single day.”

He stuck a hoof out and when she took it, he pulled her close and whispered, “Stable-Tec has no idea a ministry agent is stealing away two of it’s best. Thanks to my sister who works here I was able to get in and find you two. If you can help me win this war and save our land, then I’ll do everything I can to make sure that smile never leaves your face Minuette. Welcome to The Children of the Night.”

I was ripped out of that memory quickly and I saw a small mote of light floating near me as I flew into the next memory, this one feeling dark and foreboding.

Minuette and Amethyst were strolling down a side street in Canterlot enjoying a rare day of piece. It was the first time in a month that the two were able to get away from their new foal and just enjoy themselves for a change. It had been Minuette’s idea to teleport to Canterlot for the day while Amethyst’s cousin watched over Dwarf Star for the night.

“I still can’t believe that when you first saw me you thought I was judging you,” Amethyst said, laughing as they held a few things in their magic from a shopping spree. The war was getting bad again, so not all of the shops were open, but they still managed to have a good time.

Minuette beamed. “What can I say, most of the ponies hated me at Stable-Tec, they just didn’t understand my genius, and they were jealous. Though I did think you were cute even back then, even if I thought you might be a snob.”

Amethyst kissed her for a long moment, before saying, “I was so scared to talk to you, do you remember when we first joined with The General? I could barely talk to you for the first month or two.”

Minuette laughed. “You didn’t say much even then, not until Lightning Joined us. Ah I miss those days, things were so much simpler when we were still in Canterlot,”

Amethyst looked up toward the tall peak where their old base was still hidden, “Me too,” then she got a sly look to her eyes, “Wanna go up to the old base and screw in the squad room?”

“Oh somepony has a dirty mind today, I thought that was my job,” Minuette teased.

“Oh come on, it’s been forever and you had Dwarf Star a month ago, you should be dying to do something fun and dirty. Plus, today is about Celebrating your full retirement from The Children of the Night,” Amethyst said happily, “I say we take the night, have as much fun as we can. Then tomorrow we start looking for a nice place to settle down. Someplace away from Las Pegasus.”

“You know what, you’re right, I think it would do us some good to get some us time and then maybe we can talk about moving away from the city. You know Greta’s going to kill us if we move to far away from her though. She adores Dwarf Star and I swear she thinks she’s our son’s third mom most days,” Minuette said turning to look back at her beautiful mare friend.

The sky was starting to get dark, the small road they were on was even darker, so she hadn’t seen the stallion until it was to late. A shadowy figure came out of nowhere and hit Amethyst over the head with a piece of metal. Minuette screamed but her training kicked in and she readied a spell then her world turned into nothing but pain as another stallion hit her over the back of the head too.

She fell and for a moment all she could see was white light as pain ran through her head. Then she saw Amethyst looking at her from the ground only a few inches away her eyes glazed a little. A hoof pressed down on her head as the other stallion did the same to the love of her life. It was then that she heard his oily voice close to her ear, the voice of the stallion she’d hate for all time, but in her dazed state she could never place it. But I knew it all to well, it was Thunderlane, she never saw his face, and what happened next would destroy her mind over time, making it impossible for her to think straight ever again.

“This is payback for Night Stalker always thinking he can get what he wants. Say bye bye to your little lover you disgusting piece of shit unicorn!” he said with a hint of utter hatred.

“N..no. who…are you? Get…OFF!” Minuette said as she tried and failed to pull on her magic.

She couldn’t do anything, the blow to the head had been enough to make it impossible to cast a spell for a while. The stallion on her, Thunderlane I was sure of it, pinned Minuette down as the other stallion used magic to bring a knife down and use it to slowly cut Amethyst’s throat. Her eyes widened in pain, but they also cleared enough for her to lock eyes on Minuette’s. As the Stallion kept cutting, she managed to mouth one last message to Minuette, “I love you…”

Rage filled Minuette as she watched the shadowy unicorn cut her lovers throat until her blood pooled out and ran over the street until it was running around Minuette’s face. He didn’t stop there however, he kept cutting and sawing then cutting again, until he ripped the head free then slowly brought it over to Minuette’s face and gently set the severed head of Amethyst Star down an inch in front of her nose. The mare’s dead eyes locked in sadness and pain.

Minuette tried to scream but a hoof came down, once, twice, three times on her horn making her nearly black out. Before she got her senses back even a small bit, she heard somepony’s screaming for help, a quick word from the oily voice she never remembered, then the feeling of having her own lovers broken off horn shoved up her ass before the attackers vanished into the night.

I watched all of this and felt the utter agony and rage that came from Minuette as she was hurt in the worst way imaginable. Minuette never found out who the second pony was who hit her from behind. But the unicorn who had killed her Amethyst was tracked down. Unfortunately, they never got any information out of him, because he’d been found in his apartment, dead from a knife being stabbed right into his left eye. Minuette took two days to recover from the head trauma, but the deeper wounds never left her. Her mind had broken from the loss of Amethyst, and she swore that she’d find the other killer one day.

When she figured out that she’d never track him down with how bad the war was getting. She snapped more and she made sure to give her son to relatives of Amethyst’s. She wasn’t able to hold onto sanity often, but she knew she had to keep him safe. She told them to move away, and to never tell her where they took her son. She went back to work with the Children, saying she needed it to keep her mind busy. She worked hard to keep her madness from showing to her friends, but she could tell that Night Stalker knew something was wrong. It was during this time that she finally figured out what Falling Shadows would really do if it was activated. She tried to tell Night Stalker, she tried to tell Lightning, she even tried to warn Greta, but no pony believed her.

They said she was still distraught over Amethyst, and they knew what they were doing. She knew better, she’d put more work into the Project than any of the others. She knew she couldn’t stop it on her own, so she did the next best thing. She made sure Night Stalker and the rest of the Children of the Night could never use the project again. It was her that told her old bosses at Stable-Tec, she told them how to lock the programs down with their Mark II’s. She was the one who convinced Sweetie Belle to get the other two to hide the information of the Project on the Mark II’s and to hide them in a stable. She helped them step by step and when Night Stalker found out what happened, it was to late for him to find the Mark II’s or what happened to his life’s work, her life’s work more like. During her time teleporting all over Equestria, her mind a hairs breadth from fully fracturing, that she found out about the attack. She went to the badlands, she hid away in a safe place and laughed as the world burned.

When she fully broke, she didn’t even have a thought for the safety of her only foal. All she cared about was watching every pony burn, watching the war end in radioactive magical flames. It was a few weeks, maybe a few months later than she came back to herself and the pain of losing Amethyst hit her again. She cast a powerful spell looking for the one mare who might still be alive after the fallout that might be able to help her fix herself. It took some time, but she found the life force of her old friend Twilight and that’s where she met, The Goddess.

The next memory was quick but helped tie together what happened all those years ago to her distant grandmother. She’d made her way to an old testing sight. One she knew Twilight was trying to hide from the rest of the Ministry Mares, but The Children of the Night knew about. She could barely keep her mind together as she wandered into the building where she felt four life forces. They were strange and three were weak, but she knew Twilight had to be there. What she saw was not her old friend.

I can’t even explain to this day what Minuette saw that day. The creature was horrible, and with her mind so messed up, Minuette couldn’t really understand it. What she did know was that one of the forms inside the gob of monster that was settled inside the center of the building was a mare she really didn’t like, “Trixie? What happened to you? Where’s Twilight?”

A voice entered her head, one I knew as the goddess, “Trixie is no more, we no longer go by that name! You shall call us Goddess, we are all powerful!”

“I…need twilight…please where is she?” Minuette moaned as her head felt like it would split open, and her mind would fragment again.

“Child, you look as if you are in great pain. The Goddess can help you; we can take away those feelings of pain and anger,” The Goddess said.

A tear fell from her eyes. “I want to stop seeing her face, I miss her so much, but all I can see is her head laying in front of me.”

“Join us and you’ll never feel this loss again. Join us Minuette and be reborn as something powerful and clean of those bad memories of your lost love, we can even take away the memory of what you did in service to this Night Stalker,” The Goddess said.

“You…you can?” Minuette asked, a small smile coming to her face for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Please…make the pain stop…I’ll do anything, I’ll join you and do whatever you want, but please just make the pain…stop,” she begged.

There was a flash of something grabbing Minuette as she started to laugh as her mind started breaking again. Then everything else about what happened next just vanished. There was only one thing I knew for certain. Minuette’s body had been turned into a blue Alicorn and set aside for use if it was needed in the future. For the next few decades, her soul was moved from body to body all of her sense of self removed as she obediently served her Goddess. That was until the day a few years back when she was placed in the very body that once was her own. She had no memory of who she was or the pain she had carried for so long. But something about having her own soul in her own body changed her in a small way, enough for her to make a vital decision that would change her forever. So, when she took the Alicorn Amulet she was able to break free of her Goddesses control and some of who she was came back, but not all. That was the day Violet was born.

As all of this came to me, I once again found myself in an empty space, but three bright motes of light floated around me. More memories of my grandmother’s life started being pulled to the three lights. The three points that were key memories to who Minuette was and how she got to this place. As the memories started to repair themselves, I could tell that her mind was also fixing itself as well. What ever this spell was, it’s powerful and I could also tell that it was doing something to my own soul. I had to end it soon or I might hurt my very being if I didn’t. I looked around and, in the distance, I saw an orb of white and black light. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was Minuette’s soul. It was still bright with mostly blue and white light, but I could see the mix of black in it too from the pain she felt over what she did and what happened to Amethyst. With a smile I sent the memories back to where they should be, as a part of her soul and I pulled my mind back hoping that this would fix her.

Violet was laying on her side as I came out of the spell my body weak from the massive amount of energy I’d to put into it. Something deep down felt off and almost like something had been taken from me when I’d cast that spell. I’d have to worry about it later though, right now I had to make sure Violet or Minuette was okay. My mind was reeling from the idea that this whole time, my grandmother had been the very Alicorn that had been helping me for so long now. Also, the memories I’d just seen gave me a new understanding of the mare who had built the massive project that could destroy our world.

I wasn’t even sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she had left her dead-end job at Stable-Tec to work for The Children or not. I mean if she hadn’t there was a good chance she’d never have ended up with Amethyst and later used a sperm doner to have Dwarf Star so they could have their own family and I wouldn’t have ever been born. But on the other hoof, neither would Aquila. My head was also starting to throb from so many memories being pushed into my mind.

“I really hope this is the last memory from strange places for a while. I’ll take a memory orb any day,” I said as I got to my hooves slowly.

As I did Violet opened her eyes and they locked on me with suspicion and a bit of anger. I backed up as she slowly got back to her hooves, towering over me with her wings flared and her horn glowing with red energy. When she spoke, her voice had changed and now she sounded like Minuette but lacking the joy I was used to hearing in it from Memory Orbs, “If you hadn’t helped me Star Cursed, I would have already destroyed you.”

“Wow, is that anyway to thank the pony who just helped fix your broken ass brain?” I said, realizing after I spoke that taunting a powerful Alicorn wasn’t a very smart idea.

Her wings fell a little but the look she gave me didn’t fall away. “I know you from the memories of this body before you fixed my mind. I know you are Shadow Star; I know you were trying to save your mother and that you are respected by some in this broken land. I also know that you are the one who carries Aquila,” then her head tilted to one side looking confused, “At least you did, what happened to her?”

“She decided to trick everypony into getting her own body, fun little bit of science in fact. I’d say I had fun and all but since her getting free led to my mother dying and even more shit to happen, I’m going to say it wasn’t so great. Now are you going to try and attack me or are you going to calm down and talk with me?” I said, really not needing this shit right now.

“Yeah, we’ve met,” I said, rolling my eyes but making sure to slowly pull Misery out of its sheath. If she attacked, I was going to be ready.

Her eyes flashed over to it and a look of shock came over her face. “Is that Misery? How on Equus did you acquire that blade?”

I looked over at the blade then back at her. “Found it in some ruins, Night Stalker left it for Greta when they parted. I guess she was letting him use it for a while, but I can’t be sure. I don’t know everything about my distant Grandfather.

I could have sworn Violet knew that already, but then I realized that I really hadn’t seen her often since we stayed at Frosty Summit. Maybe once or twice and we hadn’t talked much during those times. Some friend I was. So, I looked up at the mare and nodded. “I’m descended from three Children of the Night in fact. Not hard to guess two of them for you, I’m sure.”

“After what happened to me, I lost touch on what was going on in The Wasteland as I’m sure you know after putting my memories back together. I’m guessing that Night Stalker and Lightning Dust had a foal or two after the war,” she said.

“They did, four in fact, but only one lived long enough to have more children. The other part of the Children I’m related to is you Minuette,” I said.

I thought this would calm her down, I was so wrong as she glared at me her eyes started to glow with the red light of the Alicorn Amulet. “You’re telling me that my descendance bred with the filthy decedents of Night Stalker!?”

“Seeing as how it’s been two hundred years since you went insane, also seeing as how you abandoned your SON, I don’t think you get a say in what happened to your line. Though if you can’t tell from my name, my family kept passing on the Star name over the years. So instead of being a bitch, why don’t you calm down and stop with the magical threats, because even though I know you’re powerful Minuette, I will take you down if I must,” I said, with anger filing my voice.

Her glare didn’t go away as she said, “I used to trust Night Stalker, but I learned the truth after my Amethyst died. He knew what Falling Shadows was, he knew it would bring a greater evil down onto Equus, but he didn’t care. As always, the great Night Stalker would kill anypony in his way to get what he wants. And from the memories of Violet, I know you’re just like him.”

“Oh really, then when you used another invention of mine to destroy a town and later a tower filled with Pegasi, you were doing it to help ponies?” she said.

That hit me like a punch to the gut, I even took a step back as I said quietly, “What I did to Appleton was a mistake but unforgivable I know, and what happened to The Mill City Tower was worse. It still hurts when I think about what I did back then, but I’m trying to make up for the evil I did back then. If you think that makes me like Night Stalker then fine, but you also don’t know what he went through either, you have no idea what he did to help finish what you started when you ran away!”

“He did NOTHING but segregate his entire race and a few unicorns from the Wasteland, he was the one who ran, who hid, who helped destroy our LAND!” she screamed.

That simple statement caused Minuette to take a step back and her magic to fade slowly. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen a lot of memories from the past, I’ve also learned a lot of truths. Night Stalker was the one who led you and I know it’s easy to blame him for everything that happened. The truth is, you all are the reason Aquila was created, you were the ones who worked against The Ministries and any pony who got in your way. You may have done it in Luna or Night Stalkers name, but you still did it. You built most of Falling Shadows, you could have figured out what it really did way before it was finished, but you didn’t,” I said calmly.

“I only figured it out after the project was complete and I looked over all the notes between everypony who worked on parts of the project. If I oversaw everything then maybe I would have seen it sooner, but I wasn’t. I may be part of the blame, but Night Stalker knew everything,” she said.

“Night Stalker…” I paused for a moment, “Absent Moon I should say, was always hiding his true self behind the mask of Night Stalker. He was nothing more than a scared colt when he took on his role of Captain. He put on a brave face for all of you, he did that because in his heart he didn’t want you all to be too scared of the war, or what you had to do to help Equestria. He was in love with someone he couldn’t be with, so he hid his feelings and put them toward another, he was scared every day, so he acted like nothing bothered him, he was scared of being seen as weak, so he acted like an uncaring buck, so no pony saw the true pony behind his mask. He also put some of his responsibilities into others in your group and one of them broke that trust you all had for each other and used it I believe to make sure Falling Shadows would do what it does.”

“Because I’ve learned a lot about the past. I think I was meant to so I can be prepared to stop Falling Shadows or what comes out of it for good,” I said.

“I still don’t know if I trust Night Stalker, he was a master at manipulating others,” she said.

I remembered then the recording, and said, “He left a recording for you, somehow, he knew you were still alive out there, even forty years after you went missing. Let me play it for you then you can judge him, okay?”

She watched me for a long moment then nodded. “Fine, but after this is done, you have to tell me why Aquila is free or even alive.”

“Fine with me Minuette.” I said, then pulled out the recording I had just gotten and slipped it into my Mark II. It started as it had before, saying the recording was for Minuette then the pause, after it was done Absent Moon’s voice came out of my Mark II with a message for his old friend.

It started out sad and you could hear the age and sickness in his voice, as he said, “Hey Min, if you’re hearing this then I guess Xio that old Zebra wasn’t lying about all this future stuff. I still can’t believe I’m trusting in futures and all that shit, well maybe it’s my age catching up to me. Anyway, I was told that something bad happened to you, but at the same time wonderful. I was told that you would live to see my distant Granddaughter and yours. Weird how so many years in the future our two lines would mix, though I’m sure you hate the idea.”

He paused for a moment, and I could hear a distant hacking sound. “First of all Min, I owe you an apologies, one that I won’t live long enough to give you face to face. I know I have broken the trust you placed in me so many years ago, for that I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you when you came to me about your concerns about Falling Shadows, I’m sorry I pushed you away and didn’t see the signs of the broken state of your mind back then. Truth is I didn’t want to believe that the project we spent so many years building was so evil. I had no idea that a pony I trusted myself had been using all of us to help a master he was serving. I didn’t know how much hate he had in his heart for all of us, well for me more than any other. Amethyst saw it though, I’m not sure if she ever told you but she tried to tell me Thunderlane couldn’t be trusted, that he was angry at me for taking the mare he loved. Like always I just ignored the warnings and kept on pushing ahead with my plans and my schemes.”

He started coughing again before he wheezed, then said, “Sorry about that, I’m not well. Anyway, where was I, oh yes, if I had done something earlier then maybe I could have stopped Thunderlane before he betrayed us all, stopped him before he made sure Falling Shadows wouldn’t be a way to save us, but to let his master out of his cage. I blame myself for everything that happened to The Children, I blame myself for what my family and yours and so many others will have to suffer because of my inaction and my Pride. I’m not asking you to forgive me, I don’t deserve it, all I’m asking is that you do everything to help our Granddaughter. She is the key to saving The Wasteland, her, and Aquila, she won’t trust Aquila at first and she shouldn’t, but in time they will need each other if the darkness is to be stopped. Xio couldn’t tell me much, she said the future wasn’t perfectly clear, but she did say that if Aquila dies or our Descendant, Equus will fall to Thunderlane and his master. I don’t know how the old buck will still be alive that far in the future, but knowing him, he’ll find a way. I will do everything I can now to make this easier for my Granddaughter, but I only have a couple months at best left to live. I can’t do it all, but I know that with your help, she can. Also, don’t try and take on Aquila Min, you might be powerful, but I was told that if you fight her on your own, you’ll die and so will our hope. I hope you find the light again my old friend. I miss your smile and your brightness. Remember what I told you when we met, never stop Smiling.”

The recording ended and I looked at Minuette who had tears in her eyes. “He figured it out in the end, didn’t he?”

“I think he did,” I said, “I had a few of his memories jammed into my head and the last one showed him going into some chamber in the Crystal Empire, he left me a message there as if he knew I’d see it one day before he put his body, well mostly his heart, into stasis, though I don’t understand all of it,” I said.

“That’s what it sounded like when I saw the memory,” I said, “What does him going into that chamber have to do with anything though.”

Minuette looked back at me and for the first time since she came back to herself, I saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “When I had the Cutie Mark Crusaders lock down the Falling Shadows…”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders is just a silly name Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo named themselves when they were still fillies. It was a kind of club, but away back to what I was saying,” Minuette said.

“Okay sorry, it just a strange name that’s all,” I said, but let her continue.

“Anyway, when I had them lock down Falling Shadows, I was only able to get three towers locked down. The first one was was Tower 1 which is in the sub basements of The Lucky Horseshoe. Sweetie Belle was doing a performance that night and I used that opportunity to help her get into the Sub Basement so she could use her Mark II to lock down the systems,” she said as she started to pace back and forth a little.

“Yeah, I gathered that from what I’ve heard, though I thought you were nearly crazy during that time and also how did you get them to help you?” I asked.

She smiled a little, showing a little more of her old self. “I knew them all well from my time at Stable-Tec. The only reason I wasn’t father up in the company when Night Stalker came was because I didn’t get alone well with Applebloom. To be honest it was more her older sister that I didn’t like much after Applejack became a Ministry Mare. It’s a long story but Applebloom was the head of Stable-Tec and she was a very smart engineer and more, but she also didn’t like ponies talking about her family. Anyway, when I went to Sweetie Belle about what I found out about Falling Shadows, she got the other two to meet with me.”

“I’m guessing you told them everything and they decided to help you?” I asked.

She laughed a little. “No, at first Applebloom thought I was nuts…which I was to a point, but my mind wasn’t fully fractured yet. Stopping Falling Shadows was the only way I could hold onto reality back then. It took me a couple of hours to convince all three of them and I believe if it wasn’t for Sweetie Belle and later Scootaloo, Applebloom wouldn’t have believed me. The first thing they wanted to do was destroy it or tell the Ministries.”

“That might have been a good idea now that I think about it. I’m sure the Ministry Mares would have done something to stop it,” I said.

“You only know what you learned in school about the Ministries,” Minuette said.

I shrugged. “They were the symbol of friendship and all that I know, they also started the Ministries to help the war effort and save pony kind.”

“Have you ever found memory orbs that dealt with any of the Ministry Mares?” she asked, looking at me side eyed.

I had to think about that for a moment. “Well, I saw Rainbow Dash in a couple, one time I saw a memory where all of them were in it but mostly it just seemed to be about a couple of secrets between Rainbow Dash, Luna, and Night Stalker…oh and I think he slept with Luna, the memory ended after they kissed.”

Minuette started to laugh. I was taken aback for a moment then she said through her chuckles, “The night of the Grand Galloping Gala yes I remember that night. I also know that The Captain didn’t sleep with Luna that night.”

I cocked my head to one side giving her a face that said I really didn’t believe that. “I don’t know, it sure seemed like Luna wanted him.”

“Most mares did back then, Night Stalker had a charm to him that I don’t think he even knew he had. To be sure he was gloomy and dark at times, and he could kill most ponies quicker than the blink of an eyes, but he was handsome, funny when he wanted to be, and that scar gave him a sense of danger. Princess Luna, you have to understand was a very lonely mare. She had been ever since she was cured of being Nightmare Moon. She made friends to a point, but she never really recovered from her time as Nightmare Moon. Which isn’t hard to believe because you can never really cure the mental scaring of having the influence of dark star magic inside of you,” Minuette said with a sigh.

“Well, to put it simply, Night Stalker had his own inner demons from his early life. He’d lost his parents, was raised around griffons who are a bit on the greedy side and love to fight, even before the war and he always felt like an outside being the only pony in a land of griffons. He was fourteen or so when he went to live with his adoptive parents. Anyway, Luna and him, were a lot alike and she saw that in him and well she fell for him,” she said.

I made a grossed-out face, I mean I know what she was saying was true, but still we were talking about my distant grandfather. “So, she used her power to…you know.”

“Make him do her?” she said with a slight smile at the grossed-out look on my face, “No, Night Stalker told Greta about this the next day and Greta and I used to be close, and she told me on a drunken night once. Night Stalker ended up leaving that night and had Babs take over guard duty for him. He wasn’t one to sleep around even with a beautiful mare like Princess Luna,” she said with a sigh of sadness for her old boss.

“So, you’re saying you’d have taken the chance if you’d had it?” I asked mostly teasing, that was until I remembered that this was my distant Grandmother, and I felt a bit of bile come up my throat.

“At that point I was still single so hell yeah, but I’m not Night Stalker. I didn’t mind having my fun until Amethyst and I got together. No, he was in love with only one creature, and nothing could have changed that. It was almost like his very soul was pulled to her. He fought his feelings for most of his life, but in the end, he still found himself drawn to her and her to him from the sound of it,” she said with another smile, this one a bit wider than before.

“Well Amethyst noticed it first, but she was always good at picking up on signals like that. She also knew that Prickly Petal had feelings for her adoptive brother and that Thunderlane was deeply in love with Lightning Dust. She even figured out that Babs had a crush on our zebra friend Noire,” she said with a chuckle.

“Oh yeah, but Babs never pushed it, out of all of us apart from maybe Greta, Babs Seed was truly Loyal to Night Stalker. She would’ve died for him, and I have a feeling she did. I never found out what happened to her or her foal after I went mad,” she said, sounding ashamed.

“When we have more time, I’ll tell you what I know, but I can tell you that her son lived and had foals of his own,” I said.

“That’s good to know, she had a hard life that got even worse when she had a falling out with the rest of the Apple Family,” she said with a single tear falling from her eyes.

“We’ve gotten off track Minuette, let’s get back to the Ministries and me not knowing anything about them,” I said.

“Oh right,” she said shaking her head, “The Ministries never worked together well. Over time the Ministry Mares slowly pulled away from each other. They hid secrets, their own projects and more over time. The M.O.A. was probably the only one that really could hide what they were doing.”

She nodded. “That’s exactly right, Rainbow Dash was in charge of the flyers and the entire air force for Equestria, she was also in charge of the only M.O.A. project that anypony knew about which led up to the M.A.S.E.B.S. Towers going up as part of the Single Pony Project. It was all a cover though, what they really did was run the spy network for Luna and the pony who was really in charge of that was none other than Night Stalker. He wasn’t only in charge of the Children but most of the Spy’s that worked for the M.O.A.”

“Okay so Rainbow and good old Gramps ran a spy network I kind of figured that one out so what?” I said.

“My point is that we knew more about the rest of the ministries than the rest did, and Night Stalker had spies in every single one. We couldn’t go to any of the ministries and the Ministry Mares were to busy with their own crap and in fighting to care about what I had to say. Also, Stable-Tec wasn’t trusted by most of them by that point. That’s why I had to have them use their Mark II’s to lock down what they could,” she said.

“I think I see what you’re getting at, still I don’t understand why Night Stalker had to put himself into that chamber,” I said with a sigh realizing this was eating into the time I needed to get my mission done, but still this was also important, and I knew it.

She sighed too, before saying, “There’s a few reasons, I had to move fast I had Sweetie Belle lock down Tower 1. With that tower down I knew that at least part of the project could be held off for a time, but with the other three towers working any of the Children could have forced the project to work from any of the other sites. It would have been hard but doable with enough time. So, I helped them lock down tower 3 and 4. With three out of the four down it would be nearly impossible to get the project up and running again.”

“Right,” she said, “Two things were needed once that was done if Night Stalker or the Children wanted to make the Project work again. One they would need to use the Tower in the Crystal Empire which wasn’t easy to get into or to run unless you have a vast understanding of tech and magic. Something Night Stalker didn’t have when he was younger. He would have also needed the power crystal from Aquila which I locked down at Project Stargazer.”

“I did that right before I went to the Badlands and let my mind finally fully break,” she said.

“Why didn’t you use one of the Mark II’s to lock down the Tower in the Crystal Empire?” I asked, “It’s not like you can only lock down one thing with them.”

“True, but like I said, it’s not easy to get to that control room. I meant to get one of them to the control room for Tower 2, but Night Stalker figured out that Tower 1 was locked and who did it before I could get them to it. He also found out about the other two towers too. He went to The Crystal Empire and had Noire who’s almost as skilled with tech as I am, lock down the room to the controls to only work for himself or Greta,” she said.

“How did you know that? From what I saw of that last memory, you never tried to go there,” I asked.

“I had my own version of a Pip-Buck back then, it wasn’t as nice as a real one, but I was able to know when something that I had set up had been changed. As soon as the control room’s access was changed, I knew about it. So, I did the same thing to Night Stalker and made it so that only I and my descendants could get into Aquila’s chamber. If I had been in a better state of mind, I would’ve made sure that no pony could have gotten into that room, but you can’t change the past and all that,” she said with another sigh.

“So back to Night Stalker, what does him going into the pod have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Right,” she said, looking at me again, “The Stasis pod was a last resort for Falling Shadows. It could be used to keep a pony alive for centuries and have their mind hooked up the the entire project. The thing with that control system that make’s it so special is that if there’s a pony in the chamber, the other towers can’t be controlled until that pony leaves it or they die. With Night Stalker going into that pod, even if his mind and the rest of his body stops working, as long as his heart is still pumping, that tower is as impossible to use as the rest of them that were locked down by the Mark IIs.”

I finally understood what she was getting at. “That’s why he made sure to put most of the power to his heart. He made sure that even if the wrong ponies got their hooves on The Mark II’s and unlocked the other towers, Falling Shadows could still be kept out of their control until his heart stopped beating.”

“Yes, funny enough that whole idea was Noire’s. He felt like we needed a back up location in case something bad happened to Las Pegasus. It ended up being a great tool to keep Falling Shadows dead.” She said, “Maybe the Captain learned something after all,” she said again with a smile.

“Because if Night Stalker’s heart stopped and Tower 2 came online again, The Lucky Horseshoe would have gotten a notification about it,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean much, no pony has been able to get into that old place apart from me and my friends since Mr. Tops took it over,” I said.

She started to laugh. “Shadow, you know how there are four points that jut out on the top of the building?”

I had to think about the design of the Lucky Horseshoe. At the top of the tall spire there were four pillars that did jut out from the dome at the top where the Children’s levels had been, so I nodded. “Yeah, so what?”

She laughed again. “Every point had a light at the end of it. Those lights indicate if a tower is online. It’s a failsafe systems if something happens to one of the locations. It’s how Night Stalker knew which towers were down so quickly. He didn’t even have to check the terminals, all he had to do was fly up to the top and see a light was out to know something was wrong. If Tower 2 was back up and running the light that points north would have turned on.”

My eyes went wide. “I’ve never seen those lights on before, so he could still be alive?”

“His heart might be, but I’m quite sure that his mind and soul are gone. Even if he was somehow still fully alive, from the sounds of his message he was dying anyway and wouldn’t last long if taken out of the Stasis Pod,” she said.

“I guess you’re right, still it would be nice to get some answers for once,” I said with a sigh, “Oh well, at least I know that we have time.”

“Not much I’m sure,” she said, and her eyes went sad again, “I wish Amethyst was here, she’d be so much better and dealing with all of this. Even after your spell helped put my mind back together again, I’m still not sure what to do. I still feel like I’m two ponies, Minuette and Violet.”

“Violet and Minuette are the same pony, just because you didn’t remember yourself doesn’t change who you are. Take it from a mare that’s lived through not knowing herself for a long time,” I said.

She smiled weakly at me. “Thank you Shadow, though it’s hard to keep telling myself I’m Minuette when this body is so different than it used to be.”

I used my magic to pull out the picture of her and Amethyst and gave it to her. As she took it, I said, “Then use this to remember who you are. When you’re feeling confused or lost, remember that even though you lost the mare you loved, she would’ve wanted you to keep moving forward, to keep living, and to help your family no matter what.”

She took it and I saw the joy and sadness as she looked at the old photo. “I remember this day, and you’re right, if Amethyst saw me or how I acted back then she would have scolded me for weeks,” she looked over at me again, “You’re a lot like her you know that? I can see her kindness inside of you and her courage.”

She shrugged. “True but also not fully the truth. Dwarf Star’s father, well sperm donor I should say, was Amethysts cousin the same one who took him in when I lost my mind. So, in a way, you do share genes with her as well. It makes me happy that after so many years and generations, some of what made her special passed on to you as well.”

She nodded. “It will take time, but thanks to you and after hearing what Night Stalker said, I think I’ll heal. But for now, I think you should stick to my other name. Keep calling me Violet, Minuette is too risky to be said out loud and if Thunderlane is really the one behind all of this and he’s still alive, then I can’t have him knowing about me.”

“Oh, he’s alive, I had a nice little chat with him no more than a few hours ago when I was in Stratus,” I said.

Anger pulsed from her as I said that, “That little worm will pay for what he did to me and my Star.”

“Yes, he will, but right now, we need to deal with other problems. I don’t even know where he’s hiding,” I said.

“Oh, I have a few ideas,” she said taking in a few breaths before calming down, “But you’re right, we can deal with him later. Right now, we need to start working on stopping Falling Shadows for good. I also need you to catch me up on a lot of things.”

“That’s a great idea, but first I need to get out of here and check on Wind Thrasher, everyone’s worried about her. I just wish I could teleport like I used to. It would make getting to where she is a lot easier,” I said.

She looked at me with one eye. “Why can’t you teleport? I’ve seen you do it before.”

I sighed. “When Aquila was ripped out of me, I wasn’t able to do it anymore. She said it was something to do with not understanding the way the spell and magic worked. She was the one who made it possible for me to do it so easily.”

“Hmmm, I can see why you are having problems then. How about this I’ll teach you how to do it right while you tell me what I need to know. It shouldn’t take me long to teach you while we head back up to the surface,” she said, turning to leave.

“Wait a second, you think you can teach me how to use an advanced spell like that in a few minutes? My uncle couldn’t even teach me it that fast, he told me so himself,” I said, which was true, Uncle Ori had told me before I left the Ministry that he could teach me, but it would take a while for me to understand the fundamentals to the spell and a bunch of other boring sounding shit.

“I’m sure your uncle thinks like most unicorns do. Most of us have to have a vast understanding of a spell before we can cast it properly. The thing is that you have two points that will help you relearn it easily. One, you’ve done it before and more than once, so you know how it works for the most part, second, your probably more like me and pick up on how magic works more by sight and feel more than mathematical crap,” she said.

She smiled and kept walking. “She was a smart mare your mother, I’m sorry that she’s gone Shadow.”

As we headed back out of the chamber, I went over the plans my friends and I had set up, what was going on and everything I could. As we did, she did her best to explain to me about what I was missing from my knowledge of teleportations. I didn’t pick up on it all the way out of the chamber, but I was starting to get a little bit of what she was trying to teach me. By the time we finally made it back out of the underground power source, I was feeling a little bit better about being able to finish my task.

“From what you’ve said Shadow, I think the first thing I should do is head to New Pegasus and see about getting into The Lucky Horseshoe. I need to make sure Aquila or somepony else hasn’t tapered with anything in there. I also want to figure out who this Mr. Tops really is. No pony apart form a few from the past should have had that much access to the tower. As for the crystal you have,” she said, I’d told her about the Diamond Aquila had tired to hide down there, “You need to hide it again, with out that, Aquila won’t be able to use the project no matter what she does unless she gives over more of her own power to it.”

“I had the same thought,” I said as I looked up to see Greed flying toward us, “I’ll make sure she never finds it.”

Thundercracker landed, looking at Minuette a little concerned. “Now Shadow baby, don’t tell me you went down into wherever you were to find yourself an Alicorn, I could have told you that this beautiful mare was up on Frosty Summit.”

“Haha Thundercracker, I just ran into Violet a moment ago. She had some news for me,” I said rolling my eyes, but smiling all the same, “I have another job for you.”

He grinned. “Keeping me busy I see. You might be worse than having a wife with all these honey doo lists of yours.”

Minuette had changed her speech pattern to more match what she’d sounded like when she was just Violet as she said, “Shadow Star is right Greed, this mission she has for you is no joke and could be the single most important thing you do.”

A more serious look came to his face. “Okay, I see that whatever this is, it’s no joke. What do you need me to do Shadow?”

I pulled the diamond out and showed it to him. “I can’t tell you what this does but understand this when i say that Thunderlane will do everything within his power and so will Aquila to get their hooves on it. You need to hide it somewhere safe where no pony will ever find it. Also, you can’t even tell me or any of my friends where it is unless I say otherwise.”

“How will I know you’re the one asking and not that weird filly Aquila you told me about? Can’t she trick ponies into thinking she’s you?” he asked.

I shrugged. “No idea, but you have a good point. Tell you what, I’ll give you a passcode that only I’ll know.”

He took the diamond from me and just kept on smiling. “Didn’t say anything beautiful, don’t worry I’ll find a good place to keep this. We’ll figure out the details later, you sure you’re going to be okay without me?”

“I’ll be fine, but what did you mean by…” I started asking but his eyes locked onto mine.

“I didn’t say anything,” then he winked, “I’ll catch ya on the flip side shorty,” then he blew me a kiss and flew away.

“I trust him more than most ponies. At the very least, if he just sells it to somepony it will be even harder to find right?” I asked.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t do that, but you have a point. Now Shadow, you need to get going to find your friend and you have a mission to compleat. I’ll catch up with you in New Pegasus as The Shadow Talons’ base okay,” she said.

“Wait a moment, you didn’t finish teaching me how to teleport,” I said as her horn powered up.

“Shadow, I thought you would have picked up on it by now,” she teleported to the other side of me, “Stop thinking so hard about how hard it is,” she teleported again to only end up behind me, “You just need to know where your going,” she vanished again and appeared to the side of me, “And make make your magic take you there,” she did it again, starting to really irritate me, “There’s no special trick to it, all you really need to do is use your spell as a door to get to the place you need to be, the farther away it is the more power it takes. If you were a new student, then yes. You’d need a lot of work to learn the spell. But you’ve done it before. Now stop complaining, stop relying on the spell Aquila let you use and just…” she teleported one more time, “Go there.”

“Well, I hope you figure it out soon, because I need to take care of my own mission. Good luck.” and with that my irritating grandmother was gone.

I sighed and shook my head. “She’s just as mean as mom with teaching, oh well, I’ll go say my goodbyes to Javelin, and make sure she was able to help Trotston.”

I started walking and started thinking about what Minuette said. As I walked, I thought more about what Minuette was trying to get across. “Visualize where I need to be,” I did and in reality, even with everything going on, I really needed to be closer to Gravel City where my friend was supposed to be. I’d seen it only once while Stardust, Aura and I flew by it what seemed like ages ago. I remembered a cliff that overlooked where the town used to be. “Tell my magic what I want it to do,” I said pulling on my magic. It wasn’t like I was expecting it to work, even if I could teleport again, I’d need to finish up here first but still I wanted to understand what Minuette was saying, “Use my magic like a doorway and just step through.” To my utter shock I felt more and more magic pulse into my horn and as I took my next step, there was a flash of light, and I was standing next to the cliff just outside the old mines near Gravel City.

I felt my body sway as the magical tax took its toll and as my vision swam, I muttered, “Fuck…my…life.”

[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]

NEW PERK ADDED!

Fractured Soul: You’ve used a dark spell that has slightly damaged your soul. Sure, it sounds bad, and the mental scars will itch a little, but it’s not the end of the world. You might be though. With your disfigured soul, it’s now 15% easier to learn dark magic, and 10% easier to cast.

Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 70: The Departure