“Who said I needed to be fixed? This is what I am, who Cell wanted me to be, it just took a while for me to overcome my weakness,”
Aquila…
12 Hours Earlier…
I looked back at Shadow Star and winked. “I need to be going but do enjoy the show. Don’t worry, no pony who works for us will try to hurt you. Wouldn’t want to suffer the same fate as you just yet. Until next time, my annoying little vessel.”
I teleported away from the destruction of the fake city, reappearing a moment later back in the wasteland many kilometers away from the death that was occurring up in the clouds. For a moment, a wave of pain hit me, and I had to close my eyes as I did my best to ignore the pain of the ponies dying above. Even after two hundred years I still couldn’t ignore the suffering of the ponies when the death toll was so high. At least it wasn’t as bad as it had been when I’d first found myself on this world, a fresh soul in a world at war. Back then I was so pure, so innocent, so…ignorant. This was why I needed to use Falling Shadows, with it I could pull down the rest of the power that was rightfully mine. With it, I could save this world, I could bring true peace to it and stop all the pain, death, and hate. Back then, I thought that if I’d just tried to work with The Children of the Night, I could help. I could fix their problems, bring peace, but The Dark Princess feared me, they all did. All they wanted was my power and to put it into that stupid, dark, tainted, Princess Luna.
They had no idea that if they’d tried to put my pure light into Luna, she would’ve died. Her body had already been tainted by a darkness that made her body weak to my kind of magic. Honestly, any normal pony wouldn’t have been able to take my power and live. It was a one in a trillion chance for a pony to be born who could. But with all the odds, after so many years, after so much pain and death, my perfect vessel had been born. Too bad for her that it was two hundred years too late. If she had existed back when I was first pulled down from my home, we would’ve been a perfect match, but now it was too late. She couldn’t see the bigger picture that I could see. She had no idea what had to be done to fix this world. I watched and felt all the pain and it showed me the true path. I would have to suffer through the next few weeks and do what was needed. I’ll keep playing the bad pony if it means saving this world.
‘You keep saying that, but you know that it’s wrong. We need to merge again, you’re following the path of darkness.’ That speck of the old me said deep within the cage I’d had her locked in for decades.
“Go back to sleep and just fade away…you’re too weak and your way of doing things won’t work,” I said to the empty air and used my power to silence her once again.
I took a moment to let the sickness I felt at so much death happening miles away wash over me, then pushed it back. I must complete my mission, I need to get my full power, and to do that I have to work with Thunderlane. Once he played his part, I’ll kill him too. As I started to feel like myself again, I trotted over to a small, abandoned house that I’d been using for the past couple of days. I may be an all-powerful entity from the stars, but a girl needs her rest. Especially one who’s stuck in an almost fake body made from the DNA of her perfect vessel.
Opening the door, I headed inside and took a bit of time to eat some of the rations that the former owner had left behind, cleaned up a bit and clicked on the radio to see if there was any news. Oddly, DJ Pon3 was quiet and old music was playing on repeat. I flipped the station and found that Mr. New Pegasus’ station was nothing but static.
“Strange,” I said to myself before flipping off the radio and walked over to the full-length mirror in the corner of the small bedroom. I removed the illusion I’d placed over my new body when I was still in the ministry. My illusion’s were nearly perfect, but took a lot of my power to maintain. Shadow’s face looked back at me, only with a silvery white coat, pink eyes, and a jet-black mane. Apart from the eyes this is what Shadow would have looked like if it hadn’t been for that darkness I’d expelled when I first met her. Still the body was short, and I really didn’t like looking like her inverted twin.
Luckily for me, I had the power to change this body. I pulled on my magic, feeling the massive amount of power inside, and let it flow over me. This was going to hurt and probably drain a good amount of my power for while, but it was going to be worth it. I wanted my own body, and I didn’t want to be her. I got to work and over the course of couple hours, I screamed as bones broke, my body expanded, my facial structure changed, my horn extended, and my mane grew. When I was done, I opened my eyes to look at the new me and grinned.
I wasn’t the tallest pony, but that was okay, at least I didn’t look like a filly anymore. My horn was at least a quarter size longer. I was thinner than Shadow’s body was, not that Shadow is fat…far from it, but this gave me an elegant look which I liked. My face was a little longer now and my cheek bones more pronounced. My eyes were more angled, my hooves a little sharper, my muscles more flexible and stronger. My mane was still a deep black but with specks of silver in it like stars in a night sky. It flowed behind me, never falling past my shoulders almost like it was caught in an ever-present wind. I smiled at the now beautiful mare that looked back at me. The only thing I couldn’t change about myself was of course my cutie mark. The magic of a pony’s body couldn’t be changed, not even by me. The red flaming bird flying around a crown made of thorns would always be there.
“A queen and a Goddess of the heavens. My cutie mark knows what I am and soon the Wasteland will know me as well,” I said as I turned toward the door and prepared myself for the next step in taking over this world.
When I was outside, I pulled on my power again and teleported to where I knew the Romans were getting ready to fight against the NLR. Step one, find yourself an army, and send them to do your bidding. In a flash of pink, I was standing on a rise overlooking a standoff. To my left the NLR, to my right the Romans. Honestly, if I could convince the NLR to work for me then I would side with them. They did have better weapons, better fighters, and more ponies, but too much politicizing for me. Maybe in time I will bring them to my side, but I didn’t have the time today. Zebras on the other hoof have been both worshiping and fearing my kind for millennia. Way easier to control.
I took a moment to find the zebra I needed, and it honestly didn’t take long. Nice thing about The Romans, the bigger the head gear, the higher in rank. I could see the pumped-up Zebra readying his troops to take on the NLR. I teleported again and an instant later appeared right next to him.
The older zebra nearly jumped out of his armor and cursed in the zebra’s native tongue. “By the stars above who are you and how did you get here?”
I looked up at him keeping my face calm and replied in their language, “My name is Aquila, and I am of the stars, are you the zebra in charge?”
He raised his hoof which had a long spike attached to it and yelled, “Be gone you, filthy pony, how dare you speak of such blasphemy in our own tongue!”
I sighed and with a flick of my magic, turned him into a pile of dust. Every single zebra looked at me in utter fear. I turned my head looking at them before saying again, “I am Aquila, a child of the Stars, who is in charge now that this moron is a worthless pile of ash. I don’t have all day and I need to speak with someone.”
“That would be me,” a younger Zebra said, pushing past the others. He wore no helmet, but by the way he walked I could tell that this was the Zebra who was truly in charge.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“I am Zabba, I am the first son of the Caesar. You say that you were given the name of one of the oldest star forms in the sky. Let me ask you, if you are really a child of the stars as you say and bare the name of Aquila, tell me what it means in our oldest tongue?” Zabba asked.
“Eagle, I believe most of your kind call it. Truly though Aquila is a word older than even your tribes and to the tribe of the moon, it also means Fire Bird, Flaming Eagle or even Phoenix,” I said, truly hating having to answer to this welp, but I need the muscle.
“You are a pony that knows her lore, I will give you that. Why have you come into our camp right before we are about to fight against the ponies who call this land theirs?” Zabba asked.
“I’ve come to ask for your help, one day soon I’ll need an army and I can’t think of anyone better than the tribes who have worshiped my kind for as long as the sun has risen over the land,” I said.
Zabba started to chuckle. “A young mare comes into our camp and demands to use my father’s army for her own. Why should we trust you or even believe you?”
“All I want is to meet with your Cesar, I’ll let him make up his mind on if he wants to help me or not. Trust me, without my help, you won’t win against the ponies. I’m a being of untold power, and I can prove it to you. Also, if what I am about to do doesn’t convince you then I think your father will want to meet with me anyway, because I’m the mare who killed Grimoire Spell,” I said with a small grin.
“My father does not like to take an audience with any female. Your gender is only good for cooking or breeding. I am also not sure I believe you are what you say you are, but you have shown bravery by coming into this camp and power by killing one of my father’s generals. I can see about getting you an audience with him. Though what are you going to do to convince us you are telling the truth?” he asked again, looking more amused than scared of me.
I let my smile grow. “I’ll show you right now and once I’m done, I’ll leave. I’ll check back with you in three days to see if your father is willing to speak with me or not.”
With that I turned and started walking down the hill and toward the nopony’s land between the two forces. It only took a few minutes for me to get most of the way across when four ponies came running. Three were stallions the last a mare. The mare came to a halt with the other three a few feet behind as she said, “Civilian, why are you in the middle of a soon to be battlefield and how did you escape the zebras?”
“Are you the mare in charge here?” I asked, keeping my voice innocent.
“Yes, I’m Major Stone Hoof. Now tell me, how did you escape the zebras and are you okay?” she asked.
“Oh me? I’m fine, I was just having a little chat with them,” I said sweetly, “You see they need me to show them I am who I say I am, so I decided to give them a little gift. There’s no need to worry, since you seem to be a kind pony by worrying about me and all that, I’ll make sure you survive this. I mean I do need somepony to tell the leaders of the NLR what happened here today.”
She looked confused and said, “Miss…I don’t understand, what in the Goddesses name are you talking about?”
“Oh, my apologies, I’m Aquila…” My horn started to glow as I continued, “And I’m the one who’s going to take out over half of your army!”
She didn’t have any time to scream or react before I unleashed utter hell on the camp behind her. I teleported right into the middle of the camp and started blasting, cutting, ripping apart, and just using my imagination to devastate every pony that got in my way. To their credit they did try to fight back. Sadly, none of them had the right kind of magic or weapons to break through the shield spell I’d placed around my body. The slaughter only took me about twenty minutes and by the time I was done most of the camp was destroyed and the ponies who’d survived ran. All but Major Stone Hoof who looked at me with wide disbelieving eyes.
“What…are you?” she asked as she shook.
I walked closer to her and said quietly, “I am Aquila, make sure to tell your boss,” and with that I teleported her away. I looked back at the Roman’s camp and smiled before teleporting away once again. I knew they would tell their leader about me, about what I did, and what a good asset I could be to them. I would’ve gone to see the Cesar then, but I had one more thing to do before I went to see Thunderlane who I knew would already be in an uproar that I hadn’t come back to his side after killing his grandson. Right now, I needed to pay a little visit to one of Shadow’s friends. I may not be able to kill Shadow right now, but I didn’t need to. Sometimes bringing an enemy’s worst nightmare to life was the best way to make them beg for death, “Oh Wind Thrasher, let’s see how your broken little brain is doing…”
***
Wind Thrasher…
It was a constant pain now, the need to feed was getting almost impossible to ignore. It’d never been this bad, not even when Dr. Cell would keep me locked up for weeks because I’d done something to piss him off. He used to use his monthly shot as a way to keep me in his control, a way to make sure I was slightly less of a monster compared to his other creations. It had been months now since the last shot, and every day was harder for me to keep the blood lust under control.
“Just keep thinking about Stardust and what he said to you that night. Remember if you keep thinking about him you can keep your mind intact,” I said to myself as I looked down at The Sins’ hideout.
Hailstorm had gone in a few hours ago and would probably be in there for a while. If I just had a way to keep my mind occupied, then I knew I’d be okay. I just needed to hold out a little longer. Dr. Gauze would find a way to fix me…he had to. I looked down at my hooves seeing the place where bone could still be seen just above each hoof where my claws used to be. Looking at them made me smile, not because I liked the way it looked or because I missed them. No, it was the memory of that night, the night Stardust made me feel beautiful for the first time in my life.
“I wish I looked like a normal pony,” I’d said a few weeks ago the same day after Shadow disappeared.
“Why would you want to be normal?” Stardust asked, “Normal is boring and what’s wrong with the way you look? I kinda dig the whole bat pony wings ya got goin’ on.”
I blushed at that, still shy around him. I had been ever since I first got control of myself in Stable 9. He’d been so handsome, so brave, and I loved his devil may care attitude. When he said that to me, I just responded with, “You’re just saying that because we’re friends. You can be honest with me, I’m creepy.”
He’d looked over at me then, I could see the worry he had for Shadow deep in his eyes. He blamed himself for Aquila taking over, so did Aura and Grim. I know they’d been friends for a long time now and the way he was with Shadow missing was almost like his little sister had died. When he looked at me again after a moment, I saw something else in his eyes, it wasn’t worry for Shadow, but pity, for whom I have no idea, but it was there.
“He really did a number on your self-worth didn’t he?” Stardust asked.
I cocked my head to the side, asking, “Who and what do you mean?”
“Dr. Cell, he really did a number on how you look at yourself. I can see it in the way you look at yourself, or how you act around others you don’t know,” he said, taking a step closer.
I shrugged. “I did my best to stay away from him when I could. He wasn’t wrong though, I’m just an ugly creature he created to take over our stable. When it didn’t work, I was just the thing he used to keep working on his experiments. That’s why I lost myself in books so much. I liked reading about beautiful mares running off with some prince or knight to find a better life. It was better than reality.”
“Wind Thrasher,” Stardust said, taking one of my hooves in his own, “Never let anypony tell you that you’re not beautiful, because you are. Who cares if you have dragon scales, or bat wings, or even fangs. I think they actually make you look pretty cool,” he ran his hoof over the spot where my claws used to be, “You’re different yes, but that doesn’t make you any less beautiful than anypony else. I love the mare you are not the one you think you need to be.”
I smiled at that memory and blushed as I remembered what happened later. With Shadow missing and the Wasteland going to hell around us, we decided to keep our feelings secret for now. We planned to talk to Shadow about it when we heard she was okay and in Hoofington. We said, ‘it can wait till she’s back,’ but then the bloodlust got worse. At first I thought it was because of how angry I was at Shadow for trying to kill herself and not talking to any pony else about it. She made me hide what I’d seen in her mother’s memory orbs, and when she pulled that I was pissed. Though now, I realized I wasn’t as mad at Shadow as I thought something else was making my body react the way it was. The blood lust kicked into high gear overnight and if it wasn’t for Stardust, I would’ve lost myself by now.
I wrapped a hoof around my stomach and fear raced through me as I thought about the other thing that I needed to keep safe. Safe from the world and from me, “How am I going to tell him?”
There was a flash of pink light from behind me followed by the voice of Aquila, “Tell who what?”
I turned; my long fur tipped ears falling back as I looked on Aquila. She was different from when I’d seen her with Shadows body. She was utterly beautiful and at the same time, scarier too. I bore my fangs, saying in a hiss, “What are you doing here!?”
She smiled and started slowly walking around me. “Oh nothing, I just wanted to see what Shadow’s friends were up to while she’s up in the clouds trying to save the day and all that mushy hero crap.”
“If you’re here to kill me then just try it, I won’t go down as easily as you think,” I said, feeling the bloodlust pulse deep inside me. I wanted to rip her apart. I wanted to drink every last drop of her blood until she was nothing more than a husk, but I knew I couldn’t. If I did, Shadow would die too. Shadow was my first friend and the one who saved me from Stable 9.
Aquila looked me over then her horn flashed, and her smile grew, “Oh dear, I’m not here to kill you. A little bird told me you’re having trouble controlling yourself. I must say, I bet just having me around you is making you want my blood.”
“Come closer and find out bitch,” I said, doing my best to keep down the need to feed.
“You know when I heard you were having problems keeping the bloodlust down, I was shocked. I mean when I was still inside Shadow, I swore you had the kind of will power to keep that other side of you in check. So, I asked myself what could’ve changed to have forced you to start losing control. Tell me, do you know why it’s getting harder to control?” Aquila asked.
“Why do you care?” I spat at her.
“I don’t care in the slightest, not about you at least. Really all I care about is getting my full power and seeing Shadow suffer. I mean I could kill you and that would most definitely piss her off, but it’s just too easy. No, the reason I asked is because I’m curious how a mare like you who has so much self-control could fall off the rails so quickly,” Aquila said, smiling wider.
I had no idea what she wanted, but I decided to humor her. “Dr. Cell used to give me a shot every month to keep the other side of me under control. It’s been too long and now it’s harder to keep my urges back. That’s why.”
“No, it’s not that. I mean, yes, in time you would’ve gotten to this point, but not for a few more months. Mind over body and all that. No, something else changed that’s making your body react the way it is. You may not know what it is, but I’m sure I do.” she said sweetly.
“You don’t know anything!” I yelled, fighting my need to kill her. If I attacked her, it wouldn’t end well for Shadow or me, probably both.
“Tell me, how far along are you?” she asked.
I nearly fell over as she said that. “How…How did you…?”
“How did I know you’re pregnant?” she asked, tilting her head, “Sweetie, I can sense it inside of you. You’re not far enough along yet to tell if it’s a colt or a filly, but I have a feeling it will be a colt. Tell me does Stardust know yet? How will he feel when he finds out he’s going to be the father of a mutant?”
“He…he loves me, he will love our foal too. He doesn’t care if the foal is like me or not,” I said, but fear was in every word I spoke. It was the reason I was too scared to say anything to him.
She laughed. “The sad part is I believe you, he probably will love the little freak,” she started walking around me, her horn glowing a soft pink as she looked over my body, “It’s too bad that he’s going to have to watch his sweet little psycho lose her mind and die along with his unborn foal. Because in a moment you’re going to become the thing that Shadow saw in the nightmare world I trapped her in when I was borrowing her body. I’m sure this time she will stop you from killing too many ponies. I’m sure she’ll put you down herself and when she does, oh the pain that will come to her best friend Stardust. I wonder how he’ll take it…I can’t wait to watch it all unfold.”
“I’ll hold on, I promised him I would hold on until the cure was found,” I said, though deep down I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it.
Aquila started laughing. “Oh sweet stupid Wind Thrasher, you really have no choice in the matter.”
I winced as her horn flashed and something deep inside me, something that felt like a thin sheet of glass shattered. As soon as it happened, I felt the pain of holding back the blood lust vanish. For a second, maybe two I thought that maybe she’d cured me of the need to feed on blood. Then a flood of desire and need slammed into my mind, overflowing my senses, and taking away the hesitation I’d held onto ever since I first left Stable 9.
The edges of my vision started to turn red, and as the feeling started to seep deeper into me, I felt my body relax. Aquila smiled, asking, “How do you feel now?”
I could hear the blood pumping though her veins, her heart beating in her chest, and a smile slowly appeared on my face, “I feel wonderful.”
“I can see the way you’re looking at me Wind Thrasher, but trust me you don’t want my blood, it’s not real. Well, not technically. I’m sure what you really want is something less artificial.” Aquila said, tilting her head and using her horn to point toward a caravan in the distance, just down the road from a small settlement, “Now go Hunting.”
My vision sharpened and a rush ran through me as I saw the caravan and the four guards with it. A low growl came from me and without another word, I opened my wings and blasted toward the caravan. As I drew closer, one of the guards spotted me and shouted a warning to the others. They were too slow; I opened my maw and unleashed my most powerful scream. Everypony went down writhing in agony, the scent of blood filling the air as their ear drums ruptured, blood flowing from the damage. I landed next to one of the guards who looked up at me, fear overpowering the pain in his head as I smiled down at him. His scream was the first of many as I began to feed…
Shadow Star…
Hours Later…
“Fuck…my…life,” I muttered as I gave my body a moment to adjust to the teleportation. In all honesty it didn’t take too much for me to cast the spell, hell it felt like it had taken less power to cast than it had when I could do it before. It was more that my body wasn’t used to this new way of using this spell. When I’d teleported before, it felt different. Maybe the way I used the spell with Aquila inside my mind was different. Didn’t matter either way, I wasn’t quite ready to be here yet, and I still really hadn’t taken the time to come to the reality that my distant great grandmother Minuette was still alive. Hell she was an alicorn, and the very alicorn I’d befriended months ago, still I was here, and I need to figure out what happened to Wind Thrasher.
This cliff was supposed to be where she was going to be watching for movements from the remaining Sins, but she was nowhere to be found. I took a quick look toward the entrance to the old mine, but from what I could tell nopony was down there. Hopefully Hailstorm could keep Lust, Sloth, and Envy distracted while I found out what happened to her. I turned away from the cave and stared to look around the area. It didn’t take long to find a few hoof prints that had to be Wind Thrasher’s.
I’m not Detective Lonely Hearts, I can’t tell whose prints are who’s with probably any pony apart from Wind Thrashers. Even though I’d blow her bone claws off months ago, she still had small bits of bone that poked out just past her hoof and left a small indent above any of her front hoofprints. I looked around more and tilted my head when I saw another set of prints a few meters away. They just started from the middle of a small clearing and moved around a little before vanishing again. In the place where they started and where they stopped the dirt was disturbed, almost like a rush of air moved the dust and dirt around. It was almost like a pony had Teleported here then left by the same means. My eyes narrowed as I wondered if Aquila had something to do with Wind Thrasher going missing.
I couldn’t be sure, but it was all I could think of. If Aquila found her, she would’ve killed her…right? I couldn’t see a body or blood, or even the signs of a fight. Not sure what else to do I looked back at Wind Thrasher’s tracks and saw that they too vanished, only I could see what looked like small sweeps of dirt as if somepony had flown away and flown away fast. I followed the way it looked like she’d been going and saw a road a little way down the hill, and I felt my blood go cold.
I started heading down the hill toward what looked like a caravan and bodies lying around it. As I got closer, a breeze started to blow, and the stench of iron hit my nose. It was the smell of blood in the air. I knew what I was going to find even before I reached the road and saw the destroyed bodies of four stallions in old combat armor. Their throats had been ripped out and their bodies had been partly drained. Slowly, I walked closer, pulling Dream Walker from its holster as I looked over the first dead guard. His face was frozen in fear, his ears had dried blood coating the fur around them. It was as if he’d been attacked by a high pitch sound, just like Wind Thrasher’s scream.
I held back a sob as I checked the other guards and found the same. Each of them looked scared, their ears had been bleeding and their throats were ripped out by something with large fangs. They also had a slightly drained look but not as much as other ponies I’d seen Wind Thrasher kill before. The one in Mill City looked like a dried-up husk. If she’d been fully lost to her bloodlust, why would she not have drained them?
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“Same here,” A voice said from above, I swiveled and pointed Dream Walker up and nearly shot Stardust.
“Dammit Dusty, I almost shot you,” I said, lowering Dream Walker.
He landed and took a moment to hug me before, saying, “I got the news about the caravan from one of the scouts Syn and Aura have still outside of Freedom. I’m sorry that I scared you by the way. I wasn’t expecting to see you here so soon. Last I heard, you were still at Spitfire’s Flight Academy.”
“Teleported, I’ll tell you how I got that little trick back later. Right now, I’m trying to figure out what happened here, and why Wind Thrasher would’ve done this or if it was really her,” I said, looking back at the bodies.
I saw a tear run down his face. “It was her. This shows all the signs of what a bloodwing can do, only smaller. I was so sure she could keep fighting it. All she had to do was wait a few more hours.”
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “What do you mean?”
He sighed and used his muzzle to reach into a small pouch at his side. “Dr. Gauze was almost to Freedom when I got word from the scout. I got lucky that I ran into him when I did, and he gave me this,” he showed me a syringe with a red liquid inside.
“Is that something new to help her control her blood lust?” I asked.
“He says it’s a catalyst of some kind,” he said, putting the vile away, “He said that while he was looking through her blood trying to find a way to keep her other side from taking over, he found traces of something in her bloodwork. It was faint and it took him time to figure out what it was. At first, he thought it was nothing important and he kept trying new ways to cure her of what she is. He wanted to make her into a normal pony again.”
“I thought it wasn’t possible to make her into a normal pegasus,” I said.
He sighed, “It’s not. Dr. Gauze realized that a week or so ago. I guess he’d gotten a little help from Dr. Stormy, though I don’t know what she did or how she got in contact with him. Either way they figured out that if he tried to separate the dragon and vampire bat DNA from her system, she would die. Hell, she shouldn’t have survived the splicing. Since she was only about eight when this was done to her, that was probably the reason she was able to survive, her body hadn’t fully developed yet. The problem now is that her body grew and adjusted to her new form. If he removed the other DNA inside her, her body wouldn’t know what to do without it and she’d die.”
“So, the catalyst thing will do what then?” I asked.
“I don’t understand everything he told me, but to put it simply, the other thing he found in her blood was a weaker version of this,” he pointed at the pouch where he’d kept the vile, “When he looked it over he realized that it was something that Dr. Cell must have been giving to Wind Thrasher for years. Probably every two weeks to a month to keep her bloodlust down so he could keep her under his control. Dr. Gauze was able to replicate it and strengthen it so that one dose will permanently keep Wind Thrasher’s instincts under her own control. It’s not a cure per-say, but it’s a way for her to live a normal life. A life where she can get married and maybe start a family and be happy.”
I smiled a little, ignoring the death around me for a moment as I saw the longing in my friend’s eyes, “A life with you?” I asked.
“Yes…I told her that I was falling for her a few weeks ago, when you were back East,” he tried to smile but it was forced, “We…well you know.”
“You finally slept with her?” I said poking him with a hoof, “It’s about time. Though if you two were together why did you keep wanting to talk to me about your feelings with her and what you should do while we were in Los Alicorn?”
His blush was almost cute. “Well yeah, we were going to tell you once she was better, but things keep going from bad to worse, and well…now she’s…gone or lost her mind. I don’t know. The reason I was asking you those things was because I wanted to see what you thought about it and I wasn’t ready to bring it up to you yet.”
I put a hoof on his shoulder. “Dusty, we’ll get her back, let’s check the rest of the area and maybe we can figure out what happened to her. Also, I’ve been trying to get you to together for a while, you didn’t need to hide anything from me.”
“Ok…that’s a good idea, and I’m sorry I was keeping it secret.” he said, before heading toward the run-down wagon.
I followed my friend, feeling a deep ache in my chest at what I knew had to have happened to Wind Thrasher. As Stardust started to search through the wrecked wagon, I looked out into the distance. Something about this road seemed familiar to me, though at first, I couldn’t figure it out. I hadn’t been to Gravel City before, not that I know of at least. From what I could tell, the so-called city was nothing more than ruined buildings. Then my eyes moved Northwest and, in the distance, I could see what looked like the remains of a cliff or small mountain. The top looked like it had been blown off. My eyes went wide as I looked toward where the town of Gravel City ruins were and saw in the distance an old Factory that had to be F&F Tools. We weren’t far from Stable 9 then, well what was left of it and the encampment that was destroyed when I blew the stable sky high.
“We’re so close to her old home,” I said as Stardust jumped out of the wagon.
“I didn’t find much, only another body. Looks like a young mare, she’s almost completely drained,” he said before looking toward the destroyed wreck of Wind Thrasher’s old home in the distance, “Yeah, I know where we are. I’ve flown past that place a few times now. Did you know the area around it is highly irradiated? No pony can get within a kilometer of it anymore.”
“I had no idea I’d caused so much damage when I blew it up,” I said looking away from the sight.
He put a hoof on my shoulder. “You did what you thought you had to do to keep the creatures inside from hurting anypony else.”
“I know, but there had to of been another way. Dr. Cell was crazy, sure, but we could’ve just locked the door again. Sooner or later, he would’ve died, same for his monsters. Why do I always go to destruction over trying to save lives?” I asked.
“Shadow…” he started to say but he was interrupted as a beautiful musical note floated toward us. Stardust looked around his eyes glazing over a little as he said in a slightly dreamy voice, “Did you hears something…?”
“Is somepony signing?” I asked, starting to turn around when everything around me seemed to shift. One moment I was standing in the middle of the broken road near Gravel City, the next I found myself in the ball room of The Kingdom. Standing alone a few meters away was Aura, dressed in her best outfit smiling at me with love in her eyes.
“Shadow, aren’t you going to dance with me?” she asked, slowly taking a few steps forward, her talons clicking on the smooth wood floor, “You did promise me a dance tonight remember? We’re the only ones here, we can do anything you want.”
“What’s…going on?” I asked, looking around for…who was I looking for? Wasn’t I just…wait, no, I was always here. I’d been waiting for Aura to dance, that’s right…no that isn’t right. I looked back at her again, but this time it was Solstice?…no another Pegasus, a beautiful mare with a maroon coat and long black mane with a red streak going down one side. She was in a beautiful black dress that nearly touched the floor as it flowed off her perfect flanks.
“Why can’t I remember your name? Where did…where did…a…the griffon go?” I asked, my mind feeling foggy, almost like I’d drank too much or something.
“I’m Lavender, don’t you remember Shadow? We met at the party, you were telling me all about your adventures in the Wasteland,” she said as she walked closer, a scent flowing off of her that matched her name.
“I…I think I drank too much,” I said, giggling like a filly as she drew closer to me.
“You did have a lot, what a naughty mare you are drinking so much when you promised me stories and a dance,” she teased, coming right up to me, slowly running a hoof down my face, making my fetlocks wobble.
“You’re so pretty, why would you want to dance with me? I’m no pony,” I said, blushing bright red.
For a moment I swore I could hear a song echoing in the distance, but it vanished as Lavender tilted my head up bringing her lips close to mine, her breath rolling over my lips as she said, “You’re the most interesting and beautiful mare I’ve met in a long time Shadow.”
As she kissed me, I felt my body melt into her. Our tongues dancing with each other as she forced her muzzle harder against my own. My mind was trying to tell me something was wrong, but it was only a small annoying nat at the back of my mind. This mare was the one for me, the mare I was meant…no…no…NO!!! Something inside of me, deeper than even my magic seemed to flare to life and for only a moment. I knew deep down that this mare was not my true love, she was not my soulmate. That place in my soul had been taken before I had even been born. Sadly, it was to late for me to do anything, because right as my mind started to clear, a sharp pain exploded through my side as something cold and sharp slipped between my armor and I felt blood flow.
My eyes snapped open as Lavender…NO…Lust pulled her smiling muzzle away from my lips. The world around me snapped back into focus and I took a step back, a long black metal cylinder of some kind slowly pulling out of my side, blood dripping from the tip. My legs gave out as I fell over, looking in horror at the mare who had used her strange gifts to make me forget about everything important to me, all so she could get close.
Lust started to laugh as she flapped her wings, twirling around in mid air before looking toward Sloth who was a few meters away standing over Stardust, who was either knocked out or dead. She giggled, saying, “See, what did I tell you Sloth? It was so easy to get to her. All we had to do is wait for that traitor Wrath to lead her here and we could finally kill her! I even got a little kiss from the famous Courier!”
Sloth sighed, “I told you before Lust, I don’t care. We don’t even have orders to kill her anymore. We were disbanded, even Envy left. What’s the point?”
She growled at him. “We don’t answer to that Night Shade, we answer to The Master!”
“We haven’t gotten orders in a long time from even him, I say we just go back to Stratus and maybe Night Shade will pardon us,” Sloth said, his eyes looking haunted and tired, “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
I gasped in pain trying to use my Pip-Buck to bring up a healing potion from my saddle bags, but the pain was making it hard to do. I looked back at them and said in a weak voice, “Sloth, Lust, the Sins don’t exist anymore. Your former leader works with me now, so does Greed. Hell, my mom was the one who used to give you commands and she’s…she’s not here anymore.”
Lust rounded on me, growling with anger, “The Sins are all I have left! You don’t have the right to tell US what to do you filthy little cunt!”
I found the healing potion and pulled it out quickly, pouring a little over my wound. I tried to drink the rest, but Lust’s spear extended and shattered the glass, sending a spray of potion over the ground. I sighed and laid back down. The potion might’ve only been partly used, but it did stop the bleeding. As I felt my wound starting to close, I said slowly, “What’s the matter Lust? Got tired of being a whore in Stratus? You like killing more?”
“You don’t know anything about me Shadow!” she said, slowly walking toward me, “I’m a survivor, always have been, always will be. You may see a beautiful face and body and maybe a stupid mare, but I’ll have you know that before I was a Sin, I was one of the most respected mares in Nimbus. I don’t care if Pride decided he wanted to play uncle again. I don’t care if Greed wants the easy life, I don’t give two fucks that you killed the old Wrath or Gluttony. I don’t care that Envy decided to be a coward and run away, leaving us behind with a fake pony. All I care about is killing you for the pony who really runs The Enclave, he is the only pony I care to keep happy do you hear me? He wants you dead and out of the way, so I’m doing this for him and having fun in the meantime. Now you’re going to watch as I kill your friend. Stardust was a crappy Pride and an even worse failure than even Sloth was to The Enclave. Then after he’s dead, I’m going to put you back under my siren song and you’ll smile as I kill you.”
I stared to chuckle as she got a few centimeters closer to me, “Funny you say that, I’m guessing that gem around your throat is your source of power,” I tapped on the gem with Dream Walker, which was held just under he chin, “Goodbye Lust…”
I tried to fire, but in a blink the world around me shifted again. She’d somehow activated her power without even signing. It must not have been as powerful like that, because a moment later, my mind was my own again, and Dream Walker was sitting far away from me. Lust smiled. “The Gem only helps me control my gifts Shadow, I have Siren blood in my family.”
Sloth rolled his eyes and yawned. “Either kill her or shut up. This game has gone on long enough and now I’m bored.”
“You’re not in charge here Sloth!” Lust yelled, turning toward him, “I’m tired of your attitude.”
“Sloth, do you really want to keep doing this?” I asked.
He sighed again. “Don’t have much of a choice Shadow, sorry. I’m not much use doing anything else apart from killing ponies. Even then as you probably know by now, not for very long. I’m sure Pride told you about how my power works by now.”
“Fifteen minutes at full power then you’re out. Yeah, I know,” I said, “But what if there was a way to fix you?”
“He doesn’t need fixing, he’s perfect the way he is,” Lust said, turning on me again, “Now shut up!”
Sloth didn’t seem to care what Lust was telling him to do, he stepped around Stardust and trotted toward me, his powerful body intimidating this close up. “Only pony who could help me is Dr. Stormy, she’s the one who made me into what I am. The problem is you killed her before you blew up Mill City Tower. Cloak was the only other pony who might’ve been able to help and she’s dead too. So, sorry, I can’t do much now. Honestly, I don’t really care. Sloth or Swift Wing, either way, I’m stuck like this.”
“You see, now stop trying to get out of this, you’re both dying,” Lust said, starting to head toward Stardust.
“Sloth! Dr. Stormy’s alive!” I said quickly.
Sloth put a hoof out and stopped Lust. Ignoring her protests, he glared at me, saying slowly, “You killed her! Then you destroyed the building afterword.”
“That was a synth, Dr. Stormy has been working with The Ministry for years. She made a synth of herself to keep up with The Enclave while she worked with The Ministry. She not dead, she’s probably in New Pegasus by now with Oricalcos…I mean Pride. You don’t have to stay a Sin, you can be normal again!” I said frantically.
For a long moment Sloth looked into my eyes then with a sigh he looked back at Lust, “She’s telling the truth, I can see it.”
“So, what!? You really want to go back to the nutcase who did this to you? Isn’t it better to stay here with me? I love you!” she said, and as she did I could tell that something inside her thought she meant what she was saying, but it was still a lie.
“You don’t love anything or anypony but yourself Lust,” he said.
Anger filled her eyes as her gem started to glow. “You’re going to leave me? You’re going to betray me like everypony else!”
“Lust…Lavender, we don’t have to do this anymore. You know I care about you but that thing around your neck has gotten to you. We can be normal again, we can stop all this killing,” Sloth said.
As he said this, her eyes went from utter fury to dead, in a dead pan voice, she said, “Fine…be like the rest of them…” a song seemed to flow from her gem followed by a command, “Sleep!”
To my utter shock, Sloth’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he slammed into the ground fast asleep. Power seemed to flow off of her as she looked at me. I slowly got to my hooves pulling on my magic as I said, “I’m not going down easily Lust.”
Her voice stayed flat and utterly dead as she replied, “Nothing’s changed, Stardust will die, then you’ll die, and Sloth will die. Then I’ll go back to where we left Hailstorm or Wrath and kill him too, then I will finally get what I deserve,” her hoof came up the black extendable spear pointing it toward Stardust, “I can’t wait to see his blood flowing all over the ground. Maybe that bat pony freak will cry over his corpse when she finds out. It’ll be wonderful to see that abomination go completely insane!”
Her mad smile was still on her face as she activated her spear. It launched toward Stardust, I tried to fire off a spell, but it didn’t matter…the spear never found its mark. It’s black metal end scraped off maroon scales as Wind Thrasher landed in front of Stardust, protecting him from getting impaled.
Lust took a step back at the terrifying sight of the dragon bat pony. Neither Lust nor I heard even a whisper of her wings as she’d come to join the fight. She barely looked like the shy, loving, friend I’d come to know over the past couple of months. Her yellow slitted eyes were glowing a yellow orange color now, her scales seemed to have grown up her chest more and even over part of her legs. Her fangs were longer, her tufted ears were longer than I remembered, her mane was wild, and her wings seemed to be longer and darker than before. Blood was coated over her muzzle and when she opened her mouth, I could see even more sharp teeth.
She hissed at Lust, her ragged tail lashing as she said in a hissing voice, “No pony hurts my MATE, he belongs to me!” she then looked at me and I couldn’t see even a shred of care in those eyes, “You can kill her, she’s not worth my protection anymore, but you won’t lay a hoof on what is mine Pegasus!”
Lust retracted her spear and started to giggle. “Well look at that, the bat has gone batty!” she started to laugh harder, “This is just too perfect! Maybe I’ll get an even bigger reward from The Master when I take you out too FREAK!”
Lust started to sing, since she was facing away from me it didn’t hit me like before, but I still found it hard to move as the mind-numbing power washed around me. Wind Thrasher on the other hoof, just flattened her ears a little, tilting her head to one side as she hissed, “What is that supposed to do? Stop making that hideous noise!”
Lust gasped and stopped using her power as she asked, “How are you able to resist my siren call?”
Wind Thrasher grinned showing her very sharp teeth as she said, “I hear on a much higher frequency than the average pony. Your sound spells have no effect on me. Let me show you how a real voice power works!”
“I’ll still kill you and Stardust!” she screamed.
“No…you won’t, I wonder what Pegasus taste like!” Wind Thrasher said, her eyes starting to glow brighter.
I knew what was about to happen and ignoring the pain in my side, I jumped out of the way right as she opened her maw and a sound wave exploded right at Lust. My ears still rang as the sound that was even too high for me to hear blasted past me, but Lust took most of the damage. I saw as the gem on her neck exploded, blood ran down from her ears and one of her eyes exploded in its socket. A moment later, the scream stopped, and Lust fell to the ground in a bloody heap, twitching and moaning in utter agony.
I took a few steps back as I watched my friend calmly walk over to the nearly dead pegasus, and saying over her, “No pony hurts Stardust,” then she took hold of Lust’s neck and in a matter of a few seconds, drained her of her blood. She was nothing more than a dried-out husk. Wind Thrasher licked her bloody lips then looked over at me, “So Shadow, I think we need to talk.”
“I think you’re right, it’s time we fixed you,” I said, slowly walking toward Stardust who was still knocked out a couple meters behind Wind Thrasher.
A low growl stopped me. “Who said I needed to be fixed? This is what I am, who Cell wanted me to be, it just took a while for me to overcome my weakness,” she took in a deep breath and shuddered in what looked like pleasure, “I feel so much more alive than I have in months, my body feels right finally!” as she spoke, I saw that more scales were starting to grow up her body. It was like the blood she drank was changing her little by little.
“That’s just the bloodlust talking,” I said.
She shook her head slowly. “You act like I’ve lost my mind Shadow, I haven’t. I’m thinking clearly for the first time in a long time. You see, before I was too timid and a little scared to tell you how I really felt. I was so desperate for friends that I kept on letting you get away with more and more evil acts. You see the difference between you, and I is, I know I’m a monster. I feed on what I want to keep myself alive and strong. You on the other hoof refuse to see that you’re just as much of a monster as I am, but you kill because it’s easier than finding another way. Maybe I’m not the one who needs fixing Shadow, maybe it’s you.”
“Wind Thrasher, I’m not the one who killed a caravan of ponies just so I could feed,” I said, pointing back at the dead ponies behind me.
“OH them? I’ll admit that was mostly because I was starving,” she said, rolling her eyes, “Shadow, I’ve killed yes, and I honestly don’t feel bad about it. I do need to stay alive. Shadow, you’re lying to yourself if you think I’m worse than you though, who was it that used this!” she pulled out Solar Flare, “To destroy a town then later a load of pegasi and unicorns in Mill City Tower. Appleton I can understand, you didn’t know what this thing did, I’ll give you that. However, with the tower, you did that because you were angry. You were upset at your so-called best friend who you thought killed the griffon you love. You’re controlled by your anger Shadow, and honestly, I think that power you have flowing through you is a big reason why you lash out at the world. I just follow my instincts; you murder because you…like…it.”
I took a step back. “You’re wrong, I wasn’t in my right mind and Aquila…”
She interrupted me. “Oh, stop blaming everything bad you’ve ever done on Aquila! I’ll admit she’s not a good pony, though no pony is in this fucked up world. At least Aquila admits what she is and like me she is just doing what she feels is right. You on the other hoof, are a danger to everything around you, you are the one who lashed out and destroyed a town, you are the one who killed hundreds of ponies in that tower. You’re the one who got Cartwheel destroyed because you pissed off the wrong stallion. You’re the one who got Aura hurt in the first place because she was trying to save your sorry ass. You’re the filly who got BOX TAPE KILLED. If he didn’t have to go save you, he would’ve lived and most of Cartwheel would have too. If you hadn’t ever left your fucking, stable then I’m sure the ponies from there would still be living their happy lives safe in their shelter, ignoring the world. Everything you touch ends up getting destroyed and ponies die. The Steel Rangers, Appleton, The Red Talons, Aura, Stardust. Hell, even Wingnut might’ve had a better life if you never found him. Your mother would still be alive if you’d never even been born. Oricalcos would still probably be a normal pony and not the husk he is now. Your father would be much happier, you’re the problem Shadow, not AQUILA!”
I was shaking as everything she said hit me like a ton of bricks. “I…I did my best to help ponies…”
“You have no idea what you really did to the Wasteland when you crawled out of your hole,” she said, before throwing Solar Flare at me. The small gun hit my armor and clattered to the dusty ground with a small clatter, “I’ll give you a choice Shadow, if you think you’re so good, so perfect, so RIGHT about yourself, then use that thing to kill me. If what I am now is so bad then kill me, kill Stardust, and our child, because you know that I’ll just pass this curse on to my offspring. If what I am is so bad, stop the infestation before it starts! if you don’t, I’m killing you next before I take Stardust to a safe place where we can live our lives in peace!” she screamed.
I looked down at the weapon that was so powerful, that it should’ve never been allowed to have been made. Slowly I picked it up with my magic, a memory from the dream world Aquila trapped me in coming back to me. I looked back at Wind Thrasher and could see tears in her eyes. It was then that I knew, deep inside her, she didn’t want to be this way. Just like the dream world, she wanted to die. She didn’t want to be a monster, but I couldn’t do it. Just like in the dream world, I’d rather die, than kill my friend. I put Solar Flare into my saddle bag, picked up Dream Walker, and holstered it.
As I did, I saw Stardust move just a little and I smiled as I looked up into the deadly eyes of Wind Thrasher. “I know I’m a monster, I know that deep down something’s wrong with me,” I felt tears run down my face as I continued, “I don’t think I’m as bad as you seem to think I am Wind Thrasher, but I do know that there’s still a darkness inside of me that’s eating away at my soul. Maybe I wasn’t ready for this world, maybe I am too young to be trying to help ponies. Maybe I really am just crazy, but, no matter what, I refuse to kill a friend. Even if doing so will save my own life. The last time I tried doing that, it was the worst thing I’d ever done, and because of it, I almost lost Aura, Wingnut, and you. So, all I’ll say is this, I hope one day you’ll forgive me for what I have to do to protect the Wasteland from you and myself.”
She looked like she was about to yell at me again, but right then Stardust jumped on top of her. She hissed and tried to buck him off. As he held on, he tossed the vile at me, yelling, “Shadow quick, inject it into her neck!”
I caught the vile that was connected to an odd looking syringe in my magic, moved it around and pressed it to her neck right as Stardust used his forelegs to hold her still. I pulled the trigger on the injector and the red liquid drained away with a hiss. Wind Thrasher hissed in pain then started to gag as her eyes went back to their normal soft yellow color. Stardust jumped off her and we both stood back as we watched her hiss then gag, starting to make hacking motions as she doubled over. As she did, she vomited buckets of blood, splashing it all over the corpse of Lust, the rest flowing over the dried and cracked road. She stopped for a moment breathing then gagging again followed by more blood flying out of her.
The scales that started to grow up her sides fell away, leaving only dark grey fur, her fangs shrank a little, and slowly she started to look more like the Wind Thrasher we knew. She coughed then spat more blood out before taking a few steps back, swaying on her hooves. Stardust sprang toward her and caught her as she fell. Slowly lifting her he asked, “Wind Thrasher, are you okay?”
I walked close right as she whispered, “It’s…gone, finally…gone,” then she closed her eyes and went limp.
“Wind…WIND THRASHER!?” Stardust started to yell pulling her closer to him, “Please be okay, Dr. Gauze said you’d be fine!”
I move a hoof up to feel her neck then sighed as I felt a slow but steady pulse. “Dusty, she’s alive, I think she just passed out.”
He seemed to sigh in relief. “I’m so glad that’s over.”
“I am too, but maybe you should get her to a safe place and have someone take a look at her,” I said.
“I can’t get her back to the Shadow Talons right now, its almost impossible to get into the town with the Unchained and Steel Rangers around Freedom,” he said.
“Then get her back to Frosty Summit. Violet or Dr. Cottage should be able to help her. I’d say get her to Dr. Gauze, but he probably won’t be back at the base till later if at all with what’s going on in Freedom and you said he was close to it when you found him. Get her to safety and keep an eye on her,” I said.
“But what about you?” he asked.
“I need to put an end to this bullshit with The Steel Rangers, as long as Byte did what I told her to, and with a little luck, maybe we can put an end to this crap too. I’ll find you when it’s all settled down. Now, just get Wind Thrasher to safety,” I said, then looked her over, “By the way…is she pregnant?”
He smiled down at her. “Just found out myself a few days ago. I overheard her talking with Aura about it while you were recovering. She was scared to tell me, so I was giving her time.”
“Congratulations Dusty, you’ll be a great father, now get her and your unborn foal to safety,” I said again.
Stardust lifted her up, and with a little help, got her onto his back where he used a hoof to hold both of hers around his neck, before he took off he said, “Love you Shadow, be safe.”
“Love you too Dusty,” I said before he flew off toward Frosty Summit. I knew that Violet wasn’t there, but Dr. Cottage should be, and as crazy as that weirdo was, he was still a good doctor.
Right then I saw that Sloth was coming to as he said, “Dammit, this day is turning out to be such a drag.”
I lifted Dream Walker a little but didn’t quite point it at him. When he looked over at me, I asked, “You gonna try and finish what she started?”
He shook his head slowly before getting to his hooves, saying, “No I’m not, I’ve been wanting to be done with this whole Sins thing ever since Pride…I mean Oricalcos, disappeared. I never wanted to be what I am, I was forced into it just like the old Wrath had been. Lavender was the only reason I stayed.”
I looked over at the dried-up husk that used to be Lust, then back at Sloth, “You two were together?”
He shrugged, like the relationship they had at one point didn’t matter to him anymore. “Back when I was still Swift Wing, Lavender was my best friend, we both grew up in the same neighborhood in Nimbus. Back when I was younger, I was just a small stick of a stallion, and I never got much attention from mares. Lavender always was cool though and even though back then she didn’t have any feelings for me, I did for her.”
“You two both became Sins? How’d that happen? I mean I know you were an experiment of Dr. Stormy, but why did she become Lust?” I asked.
He sighed and stretched his powerfully built body. “I became a Sin first. Many years ago, there was a call for ponies from the poorer areas of Stratus and Nimbus to volunteer for a chance to better themselves. All I understood about the offer was that it would make weak ponies like I was back then into Super Soldiers. I wanted to be better, to fight for my land, to be strong for Lavender. Also, any pony who joined the program would have their families taken care of and moved to a better part of The Enclave. I have a mother who I love dearly and a younger sister who is so smart and deserved a better life,” he seemed to smile at an old memory, “She’s training under one of the best doctors in Nimbus now, and both her and my mom have better lives, though they have no idea I’m still alive.”
“I think I can see where this is going, you joined up and you were the only one who survived the experiment,” I said.
He shook his head. “I was the only pony who the experiment worked on, the rest had no reactions to the spells and meds we were given. Nopony died, Dr. Stormy wouldn’t have allowed it. She wiped their memories when everything was done and I’m sure they have nice, comfortable lives now. With me, the experiment seemed to be a full success, until they realized that the enhanced strength and speed ate away at my energy so fast that I was useless in combat.”
“They made you a Sin because you weren’t good enough?” I asked.
He chuckled at that. “No, they made me a Sin because when I was told that I couldn’t be a solider and that I was a failure and I couldn’t go home to my family or to my only friend, I lost control and killed all of Stormy’s staff. She was away at the time and by the time she returned, I’d already been branded and if it wasn’t for your uncle stepping in to have me join his new group, I would’ve been sent down here.”
“That’s all kinds of messed up,” I said, thinking about the Stormy I knew and starting to wonder if this was her or her Synth that had done this do Sloth. Knowing the only way to find out was to ask her, I looked back at Sloth, “And what happened with Lavender?”
He looked over at her body and sighed again. “She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She’s always been able to get ponies to do what she wants them to. She used to use her gift to get high end stallions and even some mares to buy her things or whatever came to mind at the time. Unfortunately for her, she used her gifts to piss off the wrong pony. A high-ranking stallion in the Nimbus military was her newest…friend…” he said this with utter disgust in his voice, “anyway, to put it kindly she used to get paid for the time she spent with these stallions. This one refused to keep buying her nice things, so she threatened to go to this stallion’s wife. He beat her so bad that she ended up in the hospital for weeks. When she came to, again, your uncle somehow heard about her talents. Apparently, the stallion was going to have her banished for extortion or something. Pride got to her first, offered her the necklace of the Siren Song which amplified the siren gift she had. All he said she had to do to earn a spot as a Sin was to use it to kill the stallion who attacked her. He was a target for the Sins to take out, you see.”
“I’m guessing she did it?” I asked.
“The next day. Took her only ten minutes to get into his house, where she didn’t only kill him, she killed his wife, his son, and his guards,” he said sadly, “When she joined us, I’d already been a Sin for a long time. When we reunited, she barely recognized me and only knew me as Sloth. It took her a week to realized I was her old friend. After that, well, we started doing jobs together and we got closer.”
“What changed? You don’t seem to have feelings for her anymore,” I pointed out.
“The Lavender I used to love, died a long time ago. Over the past five years she got colder, crueler, and more insane,” he said, “Look I understand that what we did to you over the past few months was messed up, but we were doing what we were told. If you need to take out your revenge on me, fine, but I’m done fighting. I’m done killing, I just want to go home and see my mom and my sister. I want to let them know that I’m still alive.”
I lowered Dream Walker and holstered it. I’m not sure what it was, but I knew he was telling me the truth, “Listen, I’m not sure if Dr. Stormy or her Synth is what did this to you, but if you come with me and help me with my problem in Freedom, I’ll see if I can help you some help with Dr. Stormy. If she can fix you, I’m sure you can go back to your family. Even if she can’t, with my dad running things now for Stratus and I’m guessing Nimbus, he won’t mind you going home. First I need to know what happened to Wrath and Envy.”
“I know that Wrath is called Hailstorm, we thought he was a runaway from Stable 97, but Envy realized he was a spy for The Ministry a week or so ago. We only left him alone because we didn’t want to tip off anypony that we were on to them. He’s fine, just knocked out in the mine, I’m sure he’ll be up soon. As for Envy, well, he left us three days ago,” Sloth said.
“Wait? Envy, the pony…changeling I mean, who has been hell-bent on killing me and my friends for as long as I’ve known about The Sins, just up and left?” I asked, not believing it even though somehow, I could still tell he was telling me the truth.
Sloth shrugged again. “He’s been going a little crazy ever since Pride disappeared. After the fight he had with your uncle, he’s been getting more and more distant from the rest of us. When Cloak was taken, then later joined up with you, I think he finally couldn’t take it anymore and he refused to leave the Mine for a long time. Three days ago, we got word about Cloak’s death. As soon as we heard that, Envy just got up walked to the entrance of the mine, looked back at us and said he was leaving, and he hoped we all died like the rest. He said he was going to find his own place in The Wasteland. We haven’t heard from him since and not even The Master knows where he went, he just vanished.”
“I have a feeling I know who this master is, but we don’t have time for it right now. So, he’s gone for good then?” I asked.
He shrugged again. “No idea, Envy’s entire life was being a Sin, he’s very young but he’s been one longer than all of us. Your uncle raised him and with him and Cloak gone, he’s lost his purpose in life. I’m sure you won’t hear from him again, or if you do, it won’t be for a long time.”
I was about to ask more, but right then, a power armored Pegasus slammed down about a meter away from me, saying, “Sloth, I won’t let you hurt Shadow!”
“Oh, give it a rest Hailstorm, Shadow and I aren’t enemies anymore,” Sloth said.
Hailstorm looked over at me, pulled off his helmet, and asked, “Is this true Shadow? You know that they knocked me out right?”
“It’s a long story, but it’s okay now. Lust is dead and I really need to get going to Freedom. I have a feeling things are about to get bad there soon,” I said, “Feel like doing something good for a change Hailstorm and Sloth?”
Sloth was looking at Lust’s body. “Yeah, some good would be nice, but I’ll catch up to you. I need to bury her.”
“I thought you said she wasn’t the mare you knew anymore,” I said.
“She wasn’t,” he said, looking back at me with fire in his eyes, “But she was my friend, and someone I loved before she lost her mind. I’ll give her the rest she deserves. The one the old Lavender does at least. I’ll fly to Freedom when I’m done.”
Hailstorm looked between us then, looked at me, and said, “If you trust him then fine, but I’m going with you. Since I don’t have to pretend to be a Sin anymore, my job is to keep you safe.”
I smiled at that. “Good to know, I’ll need your rifle on my side for this anyway. Dusty is sitting this fight out.”
“Is he okay?” Hailstorm asked, looking worried.
“He’s fine, he just has more important things to do,” I said with a smile.
“Okay then,” Hailstorm said, grinning at me, “What’s the plan then? Who are we fighting?”
“I have a plan, and if it works, we shouldn’t have to fight more than just one or two ponies from the Steel Rangers, but I’m sure there will be a few griffons who try and step in from The Unchained Talons to deal with. You’re going to watch my back Hailstorm,” I said, starting to power up my teleportation spell.
“Cool, so are we flying to Freedom and forcing those tin can ponies to surrender?” he asked, then he noticed my horn glowing and looked worried as my magic started to envelop him.
“Nope, we’re going to get more firepower to force them to listen first,” I said.
“And how are we going to do that?” Hailstorm asked.
Before I answered I looked at Sloth. “Be sure to get to Freedom in a couple of hours, don’t want you to miss the show,” after he nodded, I looked back to Hailstorm, “I’m going to finish a delivery to Mr. Tops, that’s how,” and before he could say another word, I teleported the both of us away from Gravel City.
A moment later we appeared right outside The Lucky Horseshoe and without waiting for Hailstorm and ignoring the oddly quiet street of The Strip, I walked up to the Securipony at the door, and said, “Shadow Star from Equestria Express with a delivery for Mr. Tops.”
“You have been expected. Please head up to the top floor, Mr. Tops is Expecting you,” It said, and the door opened. I strolled in, Hailstorm following, but getting stopped by the robot, “Only Ms. Shadow Star and her list of friends are allowed into The Lucky Horseshoe.”
“He’s with me,” I said.
“Mr. Tops said that only you may go in at this time, this one can wait here until you get back,” the robot said.
“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes, “Hailstorm, can you see about going into Freedom from this side and either find Aura or my friends or find The Queen and tell them I’ll be there soon.”
“Sure, that shouldn’t be too hard. I know where the Shadow Talon headquarters are, same for the Queens,” as he said this, we both heard a scream from high above. Looking up, we both saw a few griffons flying high over Freedom.
“Make sure you don’t piss off the griffons,” I said.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Hailstorm replied, then trotted off toward the gate that led into the south side of Freedom.
With that done, I headed into the dusty casino and went right for the elevator, but I didn’t head right up to the top floor. No, I went right to the one just under it, where The Children of the Night used to live. This hadn’t been part of my plan, but as soon as I entered the casino, the memories from Night Stalker stored in the crystal started nudging me to change up my plan just a little. So, I headed right up to the former Children of the Night headquarters. When the door opened, I ran right into Minuette…Violet…it was confusing with her being an alicorn. The bright smile helped a little though.
“I had a feeling I’d run into you here,” Violet said, “You look like you’ve been in a fight? I just saw you an hour ago. What happened?”
I rolled my eyes and walked past her into the living room area, “Long story, let’s just say The Sins are no longer a problem. Sloth joined up with us, Lust is dead, and Envy is gone…somewhere.”
“O…Okay, well why are you here? I mean I had a feeling I’d run into you Shadow, but that doesn’t mean I know why,” she asked, as she followed me.
“I was here to give Mr. Tops the data I have stored on the Mark II to help him make himself a Synth Body, but something in this damned crystal from Night Stalker told me I needed to be here first.” I said pulling the cracked crystal out from under my barding and showing it to her.
She recoiled when she saw it. “You have the Cursed Crystal?”
I looked down at the crystal and shrugged. “Yeah, my father gave it to me. He said it’s been passed down in the family for generations. It looked like it stored a lot of Night Stalker’s memories inside it. I keep getting flashes from the past or other things imprinted into my mind. It’s the reason I decided to come here first.”
The crystal was glowing slightly again, but I could tell that it was much less than it had been when it first activated a few days ago. Violet looked like it was going to bite her as she said, “Please put that thing away, it’s brought nothing but pain to all of the Children of the Night.”
I rolled my eyes. “You act like it’s evil or something.”
“It’s a fetish holding old magic created by a powerful zebra. Noire and I studied it for years before the fall and he was only able to slightly alter it. Even then, the curse on it could not be broken until an unknown factor was reached. I had no idea Night Stalker kept it or passed it to his children,” she said.
“I don’t know everything, but I know he had it with him right up until he went into The Crystal Empire then passed it on to his daughter Nightingale. Even after he gave it to her, it still somehow recorded his last memories before he put himself into some sort of pod. He left a message for me too, almost like he knew I was going to be born someday,” I said, looking up at her.
Violet’s eyes looked scared as she looked at the small crystal before she sighed and looked out toward the strip. “Before I lost my mind, I remember Night Stalker telling me about a strange old zebra mare named Xio he’d met in the city. She told him a few things that at the time he thought was crazy, but at the same time he couldn’t see madness or lies in her words. I told him to ignore what she told him because we ponies don’t believe in seeing the future. I thought he let it go, but maybe he didn’t.”
“I remember he said something in a memory I saw about a zebra mare who hadn’t aged over the decades since the war ended. Maybe it was the same mare. Who knows what’s possible? I mean hell, you helped pull a child of the stars from the heavens and now she’s the most powerful thing on Equus. Maybe there are zebra’s who can see the possible futures,” I said, following her to look out at New Pegasus.
“Maybe you’re right, but still, I’m surprised he wanted you to end up with that crystal. It’s not like you can use it to fix the curse on us,” she said.
“I still don’t know if I believe in curses or not, but I do know that once I found out that Stardust was a descendent of one of the Children, the Crystal came alive and it kind of spoke to me. It told me what I needed to do to fix what was wrong with our families,” I said, tucking the crystal away.
She looked down at me. “I’m surprised by that, but not as much as I would have been back then. I’ve seen a lot while in this body as Violet. I’ve seen a lot even when I was a young fool. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now, what is the reason you decided to come here before seeing this Mr. Tops?”
I looked toward the hallway that led toward where I knew her old lab was. “Something’s pulling me toward your old lab, but I can’t think of what could be in there. I looted it weeks ago and the only thing of interest I found was a memory orb and a memory Crystal.”
Her eyes went wide again. “You took the Memory Crystal I left in the lab?”
I nodded. “Yeah, and I think I relived it. Either that or the one from the old base in Canterlot, I can’t really remember now.”
“Let me see them,” Violet said, I used my Mark II to bring them both up in my saddle bags and pulled both out. She took them and took a moment to examine them both. “You watched the one from the old base, I can tell because the magic within it is more active than the other. I’m surprised you were able to do so and not get lost in the memory. Moon Light’s memory of her betrayal of Nightmare Moon was a deep memory.”
“If it wasn’t for a couple of friends, I’m sure I would’ve been stuck in it. Even then it took me a couple days to free myself from the memory, it took even longer to recover from the after effects. That’s why I haven’t watched the other one,” I said, shivering from the memory.
“So, you have no idea what the other one contains?” she asked.
“No idea, even in your memory orb, you didn’t say much about what it was about,” I said.
She looked down at the shimmery black memory crystal. “It’s Celestia’s, it’s about the death of the last of the original Children of the Night and when Mezzanotte was banished and locked in the deepest parts of Tartarus. Moon Light was the one who locked him away, right before she died.”
“She…had enough power to do something like that?” I asked.
“Moon Light was probably one of the most powerful unicorns to ever live. She could’ve even matched Celestia in power. For a unicorn to have that much power is almost unheard of. Normally when ponies with that kind of power are born into the world, they’re born as alicorns. True alicorns I mean, like Princess Luna and Celestia,” Violet said, “Though every once in a while, powerful Unicorns are born and can hold great power to rival even an alicorn. The problem is that most of the time they don’t live a long life. A unicorn’s body can handle a lot of power, but nothing like what an alicorn’s can. They burn out when they push their power past what their body can deal with, and that’s what happened to Moon Light.”
“I could tell she was powerful in the other crystal, but I had no idea she was that powerful.” I said, “I kind of wish I could see what her final moments were like, but I don’t think I can watch that even now,” I said.
She smiled. “It’s not so much about your power and more about the control over your power. You might not be ready to use one of these yet, but give it time. If you keep working on your magic, you’ll be able to use the memory crystal. I think it’s important that you do before Falling Shadows is activated.”
I looked back at her. “Why do you think Falling Shadows will be activated?”
She looked out at The Strip again sighing. “Because I can’t see any way to stop it from happening. You might have the Mark II, well at least one of them, but that doesn’t mean Equus is safe. Aquila or somepony else will find a way to take it from you and unlock the project. I hope it doesn’t happen and I’m not giving up on destroying the project, but it’s better to be prepared for the worst,” she looked back over to me, “You need to be ready to fight the evils that will be forced onto our world Shadow. I’d rather you be prepared and have nothing bad happen rather than be unprepared and the worst happens.”
I felt angry as she said these words and I kicked the thick window that overlooked the city below. “Why is it always me? I’m practically a filly, I’m not that powerful. I’m not as important as everypony seems to think I am. Hell, I’m not anywhere near as powerful as you or even Aquila, what can I do to stop whatever Mezzanotte is?”
I felt a wing settle on my shoulder, looking up into Violet’s eyes, I saw sadness and kindness there, as she said, “Shadow, I am powerful true, Aquila is too, but my power is not enough to stop the darkness. Aquila might be powerful enough if she was fully complete, but we both lack the thing that makes you special,” she pointed a wing at my cutie mark.
I looked back at the purple and black eight-pointed star with its crossed gold skeleton keys inside it. “What does my cutie mark have to do with me stopping Falling Shadows or even Mezzanotte? I know my family thinks the eight-pointed star means I’ll be a powerful unicorn but I’m not.”
“You still don’t fully understand your true special talent, do you?” she asked.
“All I understand is that I’m supposed to be powerful, but my cutie mark’s a big lie,” I said, shaking my head.
She made me look up at her. “Shadow, a cutie mark never lies, and they don’t always mean what we think they do. You are a lot more powerful than you realize, but your power alone isn’t what will save everypony.” she pointed a hoof into my chest. “It’s what’s in here that will matter in the end, I think. Your true talent is still hidden from you, but in time I’m sure you’ll figure out what it is.”
“How am I supposed to figure that out?” I asked still feeling useless.
“Only you can figure that out, I’d say the first thing you need to do is find your virtue. That thing deep down that makes you, you. Some pony’s virtue isn’t always good or bad, but it’s what makes everypony who they are. Take your friend Stardust, if you could pick one virtue about him, something that describes him in one word what would it be?” she asked.
I took a moment, thinking about Stardust, he was brave, kind, a good fighter, but that didn’t make Stardust who he was. It took longer than I thought it would, but Violet let me think and finally something clicked, and I said, “Stardust is a lot of things, but more than anything he’s loyal. Not loyal to a system like The Enclave or his old stable. No, he’s loyal to the ponies he loves, his friends or the ones he sees like family. He’ll do anything to protect them and help them.”
She smiled at that. “Loyal would be a great way of describing Stardust, Loyalty is what Rainbow Dash was known for, it was her Virtue. What about Wingnut?”
“He’s Brave,” I said, not even needing to think about it, I’d seen that colt put himself into situations most grown ponies wouldn’t even dare to get near. He was loyal too, but that wasn’t what made him what he is.
“Very good, and I’m sure you could think of more for all of your friends. They’ve known who they are and what makes them do what they do. The question is. What makes Shadow Star, Shadow Star? You’ll need to search for that missing link and find out who you are without the baggage of being a descendent of The Children, or Grim’s daughter, or an Enclave runaway, or even The Courier. You’ve hidden your true self behind more and more titles, you need to start stripping away the things you hide behind and start being you.”
“You mean I should just throw away my duster and stop being The Courier? I’d like nothing more than to just have everypony think I’m gone, it would make life easier,” I said with a laugh.
She shook her head. “You don’t need a title like The Courier to still protect others Shadow. With or without the duster and the title, you’ll always be one to step in and try and help. Let others call you want they want, but don’t see yourself as The Courier, you’re just Shadow Star, a young mare with a lot of baggage and a big heart.”
“Is it really so easy to just start seeing myself as something else?” I asked.
“No, it’s not easy, in fact taking off the things you’re using to hide who you really are will be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done, but I know you can do it. I’m not saying to stop being The Courier, I’m saying you need to start making The Courier be Shadow Star. Make the role you were pushed into become you not the other way around. If you do that and find yourself, you’ll find your virtue and the meaning behind your Cutie Mark,” she said, smiling down at me.
“I think I understand,” I said before turning back to look at the dusty remains of the headquarters, “I’m glad I took a moment to come up here one last time and I’m glad you were here to talk with me,” as I said this, I thought about something, “How the hell did you get in here anyway?”
She laughed. “I helped design this place, not even the lockdown can keep a true Child of the Night out.”
I looked back at the elevator. “What I don’t understand about this place is how the hell somepony took over the building when everything started to go nuts. How did Mr. Tops take control of this tower when the Children of the Night were so careful about keeping their stuff locked down.”
“Do you know who Mr. Tops really is?” she asked.
“He said he was Flapjack, one of the brothers who owned F&F Tool’s, but I don’t get how he could have taken over, he wasn’t a member of the Children,” I said, starting to head toward the elevator.
“That is strange, Flapjack didn’t have access to the upper floors, but his brother did, he was a member of the Ministry of Awesome. Night Stalker had full control over him and through him, the entire casino,” Violet said, following me.
“So, either Flapjack found a way to get up here, or…he’s really Falafel,” I said, opening the elevator with Violet and heading to the top floor, “I think it’s time Mr. Tops started answering some of my questions for a change.”
“I agree,” Violet said as we took the short trip to the upper floor.
I stepped off and two securiponies blocked the path of the elevator. I cursed, saying, “I’m here to see Mr. Tops, get out of my way you bucket of bolts.”
One answered me. “Mr. Tops is ready to see you, but this abomination is not allowed in The Lucky Horseshoe.”
Violet rolled her eyes. “Shut down protocol, authorization Minuette 003, passcode, silent night.”
To my shock, both securiponies moved back, then shut down. I looked at her, asking, “How’d you do that?”
She just smiled and winked. “I am a founding member of The Children of the Night. Mr. Tops might have control of the system, but he can’t override the ponies who own the place.”
“Well that’s nifty,” I said as I headed toward the large screen on the lower level where Mr. Tops’ face was looking at the two of us.
“I find it strange that you’d let an alicorn so close to you Shadow. I’m also surprised she was able to shut down my robots,” he said.
Violet smiled up at him. “Hello Falafel, I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages. First of all, you can’t fully control robots that aren’t truly yours. You can use them as guards maybe, but they can’t do much against a member of The Children. Hell, Shadow has more authority over this building than you do.”
“Strange, I don’t remember knowing any alicorns back in the day. Though you do seem familiar. Also I am not Falafel, I’ve already told this to Shadow and I am the owner of The Lucky Horseshoe. None of the Children of the Night are alive anymore and their children are either gone or dead,” he said.
“Oh, shut it, first of all, Flapjack was never part of the owners list for this building. Falafel on the other hoof was listed as the last pony to take over the building to protect it if something happened to The Children of the Night or their descendants. What I don’t understand is why you are pretending to be your bother?” she asked.
Mr. Tops took a long time to answer, it was like he was shocked by the amount of information Violet knew about the building and him. “Who are you alicorn?”
She smiled wider. “Minuette was the name I used to go by before I was put into this body.”
A shocked expression came to his face. “Minuette died, that is what Night Stalker said when he visited this place right before he went missing.”
“No, I just got stuck in a very strange place and had my mind wiped for a while, but I’m still me, and my memories have been fixed. Now start talking Falafel, before I use more of my override codes to have your mind purged from the pod I know your keeping yourself alive in,” she said.
A strange sounding sigh came from the speakers before he finally said, “Fine, yes, I am Falafel. I was hiding my identity because I didn’t want anypony to know I was still alive after the bombs fell. When I took this place over, I was the only pony left in the building when the sirens started going off. Flapjack was visiting Hoofington at the time and I’m sure he died when the megaspells hit. I was told about the pod by Night Stalker and when I heard that the entire country was falling, I ran for the pod and used it to activate the security systems for New Pegasus. I didn’t know that I’d get trapped inside the damn thing. Hell, when I activated the security systems, keeping the megaspells from hitting anywhere near New Pegasus my mind was nearly ripped apart. It took me almost forty years to wake up again. That was when Night Stalker came back to the tower, I hid myself from him, but just in case he found out I was now in control of The Lucky Horseshoe and still alive. I decided to use a new name and if anyone saw the face that shows on the monitor, they would think it was my brother. Ponies liked him a lot more than me and I figured I’d be safe that way.”
“If you’re just trapped in a stasis pod then why did you want me to get you the plans for a synth body? Wouldn’t that pod thing keep your body ageless?” I asked.
Minuette answered for me. “The pods we used for this location and the one in the Crystal Empire aren’t as good as the ones used by the Ministry of Peace. They will slow aging, but they won’t stop it. The body will slowly start to fail but the Mind can last a lot longer even in a husk of a body. I’m guessing he needs the Synth body so he can get free from his useless husk.”
“You’re right, my body won’t last much longer and soon I’ll die. I want a new chance at living again,” he said with a sigh.
“How did you get trapped anyway? If you wanted to live, why didn’t you just leave the pod when you woke up again? You could’ve lived an easy life in this tower,” I asked.
“I didn’t because using that pod is one of the parts of the Project. Since it’s locked down, once he entered the pod, he can’t get free of it until the system is unlocked again,” Violet said.
“She’s right, I didn’t know that whatever project was being made here was locked down by those Mark II Pip-Bucks. I can’t get free unless I have a new body to have my mind and soul transferred into,” he said.
I glared at the screen. “How do you plan on doing that? Hell, how do you plan on building this new body? You have no idea the equipment that was being used by The Ministry to make a synth.”
“That is my problem, not yours Shadow. We had a deal, and once you give me the information I asked for, you won’t have to worry about if my plans work or not. Once I’m in a new body, I won’t even stay here. I don’t want to be the pony in charge of The Strip anymore, I want to go out into The Wasteland and do something that isn’t being stuck in the same place for two hundred years,” he said.
I looked at Violet. “I’m not sure what I should do, I mean I did promise him I’d get the info, but at the same time, I still don’t really trust him.”
“Falafel, if Shadow gives you the information, will you keep protecting this building and The Strip until you get your body made?” she asked.
“Why do you care Minuette?” He asked.
“That’s not your problem, I just need to know this building will stay safe until Shadow can finish her own mission. If you keep playing the part of Mr. Tops and keep The Lucky Horseshoe safe, I’ll help transfer your body and soul,” she said.
“I know that the magic required to do such magic is not something unicorns or even alicorns normally know how to do. That kind of Magic is zebra magic,” he said.
“I’ve read a black book and one that had the spells you speak of, I’ll help you if you help us,” she said.
He took a long moment to answer but finally he gave in. “Fine, I can go back to being your lap dog for a little while longer.”
“Good,” Violet said, before looking at me, “Give him the information,” she watched as I sighed and went to his computer and hooked my Mark II up to the system, then continuing, “Falafel, it’s about time you started helping the ponies of Freedom. The NLR, The Steel Rangers, The Unchained Talons, and the Shadow Talons along with The Queens and other small gangs are about to go into an all out war just past the walls of The Strip. I want you to do something to help stop this from happening. Figure something out. If you don’t help, I’ll come back here and kill you myself.”
“Fine,” he sighed, “I got the information from The Ministry, now if that’s all, I’m going to start looking through this.”
Violet turned to me, and said, “Come on, I think it’s about time we both put a stop to the violence that’s about to hit Freedom.”
I smiled. “Yeah I agree, let’s go have a word with The Steel Rangers and The Unchained Talons.”
Violet’s horn glowed bright. “I’m kind of looking forward to how this will all play out…” and with a flash of blue light, we both left The Lucky Horseshoe…
[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]
NEW PERK ADDED!
Crystal Cursed: You’ve been exposed to the Cursed Xio Crystal for an extended period of time. After unlocking the memories of your grandfather, Absent Moon, you can now pick up on certain traits from his life. Be wary, not all traits are always a good thing.