//------------------------------// // 1: Consequences // Story: A Mercenary's Ending // by morbiusgreen //------------------------------// Princess Celestia sat on her throne, looking down at the various piece of paper in front of her and trying to make sense of the contents within them. For this paper was a coroner’s report. A report on a specific individual who she had only spent a hooffull of days with, but who had made a great impression on her. That individual was Jason Wright, a human who had appeared some three years prior in Canterlot and had an audience with her and Luna. She never would have known about Jason’s death had it not been for Applejack Apple, Element of Honesty. The report told of a gruesome story for the poor human soul. Suicide. Something that was almost impossible in this land of peace and harmony. However, that wasn’t the worst of it. The coroner admitted that he was no expert on a human’s biology, but his skin was peppered with scars from various objects hitting him and even scars from a lightning strike that ran from his head down to his toes. She knew he didn’t have the same magical protection from lightning that her little ponies had, but she had assumed that Twilight, her former faithful student, would easily be able to make said connection and warn her friends not to harm him. How wrong that assumption was, it seemed. Not only did he have a scar from being struck by lightning along with a blind eye, but there were multiple scars in the shape of hooves that battered his body and deep gashes that looked worryingly recent. He was malnourished at his time of death, and there was more evidence that the ponies of Ponyville, the so-called friendliest place in Equestria, had rejected this human and forced him to live in a dark and dismal cave in the dreaded Everfree. For three whole years, if her investigative team’s report was accurate, which she didn’t doubt, he had endured this torment. She looked at the pictures of the body taken by the coroner and had to resist the urge to vomit. When she’d met Jason, he was a spry younger human with dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and a smile on his lips and heart. He’d looked healthy, and despite being an omnivore he reassured her that he wouldn’t eat any sort of meat that could talk or think. The pictures she had showed someone with a more skeletal appearance. Sunken eyes, hollow cheekbones, multiple scars, more than half of which were hoof shaped, half of his hair missing and the other half gray, and signs of broken bones that had poorly healed. Celestia began shedding tears as she read the report from her investigative team. Apparently, all of this started when her student, Twilight Sparkle, had rejected Jason. This, in turn, led the entire town to not only refuse to help him, but it also caused many in the town to actively try and chase him out of town. And the ponies who should have helped him, those who were supposed to represent the Elements of Harmony, had turned their backs on him. In fact, the lightning scar came from the ever so impulsive Rainbow Dash while the oldest of the hoof scars came from Applejack. Fluttershy had rejected him out of complete fear of him, Rarity had chased him out of her shop, and Pinkie Pie had apparently never even once tried to meet the new human or even throw him a party. While the rest of the town were no better, she expected so much more from the Bearers. Too late, she realized that while the Tenets of Harmony were to be idealized, the Bearers themselves were flawed, more so than she’d realized. With this realization, Celestia wondered if there were more patterns like this throughout her nation. Digging deeper had revealed some disturbing facts about her ponies that left her appalled. There were reports, buried deeply so as not to even reach her, of ponies being mistrustful and even hateful towards other species. Zecora was the first example that she’d discovered. While the zebra shamaness wasn’t as cruelly mistreated as Jason, she was still feared until her student and her friends had cleared things up. Apparently, the same courtesy wasn’t given to Jason. Celestia also looked into the young Spike, and findings regarding him were even more horrifying. Spike was less of a friend to Twilight now and more of an indentured servant. He was forced to clean the castle where Twilight now lived, had no friends of his own his own age, and was apparently taken advantage of by the so-called Element of Generosity due to his feelings of love towards her. She put the papers down again, leaning back in her throne and looking up at the ceiling. A sudden wave of guilt washed over her. Was she any better? She had never once thought to check on the young human. She’d never even sent a letter to Twilight asking about him and how he was faring in the three years since she’d sent him there. She’d only given him a day’s worth of bits for a night in an inn. This was just as much her failure as it was theirs. Her assumptions had led to the destruction of someone who only wanted to make friends in this world. With this horrific realization, she put the papers in a neat pile, asked Raven Inkwell to organize them for her, then told her guards she was off to Ponyville. However, before she could even leave the throne room, a green mist formed in front of her. A scroll appeared and Celestia caught it in her magic. Noting the seal was marked URGENT, she broke said seal and opened it. Dear Princess Celestia, Something terrible has happened! The Castle of Friendship has locked me and everypony else in town out of it! We can’t get in no matter how hard we try! Please come and help! Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle As she read this, her sadness turned into rage, rage that she hadn’t felt in centuries. Blinding hot rage that apparently woke her sister as the dark blue mare appeared in a flash beside her, still wearing her sleepwear. “Sister? What has transpired? What ails you?” Luna asked with a yawn. Celestia forced herself to calm down, then looked with sorrow at her younger sister. “Remember Jason Wright?” Luna brightened a bit. “That lovely human who came to us three years ago? Yes, I remember. Why? Is he coming to visit?” Celestia shook her head darkly. “He…won’t be able to visit us or anyone ever again,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. “He’s…dead.” Luna’s smile faded instantly, and she stared unbelieving at her sister. “You lie…” she said. Celestia shook her head. “No…it’s true.” She pointed to the papers that Raven was still organizing. “It’s all in there.” Luna locked on to the papers, and soon she’d grabbed them in her magic, looking over the reports with her own eyes. Celestia sat on the pristine marble floors of her throne room, tears of sorrow mixed with regret pouring from her eyes. She could feel the rising anger from her sister as she read everything. When she returned, the utter rage she felt from Luna was on par with her anger as Nightmare Moon. No, it far surpassed it. Celestia looked up and her normally pale face would have gone even paler. The utter hatred in her eyes was visible as a dark aura surrounded the lunar alicorn. “How…?” her voice was trembling in righteous fury, “how could those six mares…who freed me from my nightmare…have caused the death of an innocent creature?!” “We can find out together,” Celestia said, holding up Twilight’s letter which Luna grabbed and scanned quickly. “That may somehow be related.” “There’s no doubt about that,” Luna growled, grinding her teeth in rage as she raised her horn. “Come, sister, we shall hear their pitiful excuses before they are punished!” Normally, Celestia would have contradicted her sister’s words, but she was beginning to see Twilight and her friends in a new light. She had failed Twilight. She had failed her ponies. She realized in that moment then that the unification of Equestria all those years ago had only taken the hatred and fear the three tribes once had for one another and redirected it outwards. It might not have been as evident, but this blatant example of Jason’s death due to years of abuse and hatred had to not only be dealt with, but it should inspire change. She realized that a thousand years of peace didn’t mean there was true harmony in her lands. She would work to ensure that not only did Jason’s memory not go quietly into that good night, but that it would be the inspiration for change. Twilight Sparkle paced in front of the Castle of Friendship, trying not to hyperventilate as she waited for a response from Princess Celestia. Her friends surrounded her, trying to calm her down. All save for Applejack, who sat apart from the rest and dug at the ground with her hoof. Lately, the farmmare had not been wearing her traditional Stetson, and it had worried Twilight until this new issue cropped up. “Darling, you need to pull yourself together,” Rarity said in a reassuring tone, “everything’ll be alright, just you wait.” “Yeah!” Pinkie said, “I bet when the princess gets here, she’ll be able to solve this issue lickety split!” “Chin up, Twilight!” Rainbow encouraged. “My animal friends told me that there’s nothing evil looking inside,” Fluttershy said in an attempt to be helpful. However, Twilight was stuck in her own thoughts. She paced back and forth, eyes wide with worry. Nearby, Starlight Glimmer and Spike both stood and watched Twilight slowly descend into worry and fear. The former looked down at the latter. “Does she normally get like this when she’s stressed?” Starlight had only recently come into town after her time traveling debacle with Twilight and was still learning the ropes about how things worked in this town. Spike huffed and nodded. “You’ll get used to it,” he said, leaning against a nearby bench with his arms crossed. “You deal with this often?” Starlight asked. “More often than you’d think,” Spike sighed as he looked back at the castle. “Still, I hope we can figure this out. I’ve got some comics in there that I’d hate to lose. They cost a lot.” Starlight reached over and gently rubbed Spike’s back as nearby, Fluttershy looked at Applejack. “Um…Applejack? Are you okay?” Applejack jumped at being addressed, then looked up at the pegasus. “Uh, not really,” she said. “Worried about the castle too, huh?” Rainbow asked with a nod that was probably supposed to be understanding. “Me too.” “It ain’t that,” Applejack said, “it’s…something else.” “What is it?” Fluttershy asked. Applejack then did something nopony else there who knew her well enough expected. She wrapped herself up tightly, pulling on her mane to cover her face. “Ah don’t wanna talk ‘bout it none right now.” Before anyone else could say anything, the sound of teleportation magic was heard nearby. Princess Celestia stood tall and looked down at the ponies before her. However, Princess Luna was also there, and both had looks of anger on their faces, causing everypony else to recoil in shock. All except Twilight Sparkle, who ran over to the princesses with a look of relief. “Thank goodness you’ve come!” she said, sounding much less stressed as she pointed to the castle. “I don’t know what happened! I was reading in the library and Spike was cleaning when we were suddenly outside and unable to-” “Be silent, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said, and the tone coming from her muzzle was like that of living ice. Twilight’s ears splayed down against her face and she backed away, a look of fear and confusion on her face. “Puh-Princess, what-?” “I said be silent!” the princess repeated with more force, spreading her wings apart majestically as she glared down with anger and disappointment clear on her face. There was silence now as her gaze focused on each of the other five. When her eyes lay on Starlight and Spike, her features softened and she gave them a nod. “Young Spike, Miss Starlight Glimmer, would you please join my sister for a moment? She has something she needs to tell you.” Confused, Spike and Starlight did as they were told, following a stern looking Luna away from the rest of them. Twilight gave Princess Celestia a pleading look before opening her mouth to speak again. However, a glare from the princess silenced her as she looked at the six mares in front of her. “Three years,” she began. “Three years you ponies ignored, tormented, abused, beat and starved an innocent being. What do you have to say for yourselves?” Twilight looked completely shocked by this, as did four other ponies. However, it was Applejack who spoke. She looked up and removed her hair from her eyes. Everypony could see how bloodshot they really were now. They saw the bags under her eyes and the tearstains on her cheeks. She looked truly remorseful as she spoke out. “Ah can’t lie. We ain’t got an excuse.” “You’re damned right you don’t!” Celestia shouted, startling even Applejack. Hearing the princess swear was practically unheard of, but she continued. “You are the reason behind the death of someone! You may not have directly done it, but your actions drove someone who only wanted to be your friends to SUICIDE!” She used her own Royal Canterlot Voice to emphasize that last word, sending them all sprawling. Twilight was the first to recover and speak, looking up at Celestia with confusion in her eyes. “What…do you mean?” she asked. “I’m talking about the human I sent down here three years ago!” Celestia said in rage. “I’m talking about Jason Wright! I’m talking about how the six of you were the leaders of the charge in the abuse of a defenseless being! I’m talking about how you sent him to live in a damp cave in the middle of the Everfree! Lost, alone, cold, and hungry! He was forced to scavenge because nobody here was generous, kind, honest, loyal, or even strove to make Jason smile!” She looked at the five mares whose elements they represented with a disapproving angry glare, causing each of them to shrink back. Twilight looked stunned at this. This had to be a joke, right? There was no way that the actions she took against that human for the betterment of Ponyville had such dire consequences! She began to breath heavily, feeling another panic attack. She shook her head, denying it as she said, “That’s not true…it can’t be…” “Would you all like to see the body!?” Celestia shouted. “Do you want to see the scars that you all inflicted on him! The lightning scars, the hoofprints from being bucked mercilessly, the way his skin sagged off of his bones from lack of food! Perhaps that should be part of your punishment for what you did to him!” “W-We were protecting Ponyville from a threat!” Rainbow shouted, although she didn’t look so confident. Celestia was right in Rainbow’s face, nose to nose with her. “What threat, Miss Dash? What sort of threat did he pose to you?! To Ponyville!? What gives you the right to become cruel to someone and disguise it as loyalty?!” She then turned to Fluttershy, who was now crying openly. “Where was your kindness when Jason needed it the most?!” Next, she turned to Rarity. “Where was your generosity when Jason could have used it in his darkest hours!?” She moved to Applejack. “Where was your so-called Apple hospitality when Jason was forced to steal from you, only for you to chase him off, buck him in the chest to break his ribs or to send your mutt after him to tear his skin off!?” Next, she moved onto Pinkie Pie, whose mane and tail was completely flat and her smile gone. “And you completely avoided him altogether, when a bit of laughter would have done him good! Instead, he hung himself!” Lastly, she turned to Twilight Sparkle, who was still completely shocked and unmoving. “And as for you, my faithful student,” and she spat the words out as if they were repugnant to her, “you forgot the earliest lesson you learned!” With that, she slammed a scroll down on the ground in front of the purple alicorn, who picked it up with shaky magic. As Twilight read, her eyes widened and she broke. She looked down with tears in her eyes as she repeated over and over again, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, please forgive me, please forgive me, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” The others approached warily at the parchment now lying on the ground. As they read, their spirits crumbled. Dear Princess Celestia, My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; it's the contents of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle “Tell me, so-called Princess of Friendship,” Celestia said as she picked the scroll up with her magic, “what was it about Jason that made him different from Miss Zecora? Was it because Zecora was shaped like a pony? Was it because Zecora is an herbivore like us? Tell me what it is about Jason that made you shove him aside like garbage!” Twilight, however, was still lost in her own thoughts, rocking back and forth as she repeated the same phrases over and over again. An apology and pleading for forgiveness. The others didn’t look any better. Pinkie Pie had a mad look in her eye as she was beginning to gather sticks and moss to make a human figure, calling it Jason. Rarity was simply sitting on the ground, tears pouring from them. Fluttershy was collapsed in a heap, sobbing profusely. Applejack was simply staring at the ground, her mane even more unkempt and falling around her. Rainbow was no longer flying now, just staring out towards the Everfree. Suddenly, however, Twilight stopped. She looked up a hopeful expression on her face. “Wait…we can fix this!” she said with a somewhat mad grin, a grin that resembled what she looked like during the Want It Need It incident some years prior. She looked around wildly. “Where’s Starlight!? She finished Star Swirl’s time travel spell! Maybe she can-!” “No, I can’t use it anymore,” Starlight said as she returned alone. Luna was in the distance holding a clearly despondent Spike. Twilight saw Spike crying and stood. “Spike?! What’s wrong?!” She moved to run to him, but was blocked by a magical wall. Starlight stepped in front of her, then to the surprise of everypony there sans Celestia, the unicorn shoved her teacher back hard with her hoof. “You don’t deserve to see him, child abuser!” Starlight growled. “Ch-Child abuser…?” Twilight asked, her mane coming more undone. “Princess Luna told us all about how you’ve relegated Spike to the sidelines!” Starlight snapped. “He has to clean the castle?! You’re a princess now, Twilight! You have the money to hire ponies for that! Instead, you call Spike, who’s been there for you longer than anypony else here save the Princess, ONLY your Number One Assistant! He’s only a child! He should be in school, making friends with others his own age, not acting as your slave!” Twilight collapsed onto her haunches again. “B-But he likes-” “And as for YOU, Rarity!” Starlight snapped, looking at the still crying unicorn mare, “We all know that Spike here has feelings for you, but what have you done? You use him as a pin cushion and free labor! You take advantage of his feelings to get work out of him!” She spun and looked at the others. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you all have done that one way or another, relegating him to the side.” She looked back at Twilight. “As of today, Twilight Sparkle, I wash my hooves of you, as in I am no longer your student. You claim to be the Princess of Friendship, but if you can’t even treat your oldest companion like a real friend or even a sibling, then you’ve failed.” With that, she turned and trotted away, walking back to Luna and Spike with her head held high. Twilight fell to her side, holding her head in her hooves. Her mouth was moving as if she was speaking, but nothing came out. The princess had watched this all with a dispassionate glare. When nopony else spoke, she stood taller. “You asked me to come here to fix the issue with getting into the castle, Miss Sparkle. The truth of the matter is, that since the Tree of Harmony was the one who made the castle for you, it now rejects you as a Bearer.” She lifted her horn and six stone objects appeared in the air. All of them bore a remarkable resemblance to the Elements they had received all those moons ago. The detail on them was so precise, but there was one small detail that everypony noticed. The gems on them had all been blackened. All corrupted and unusable. The six mares, upon seeing this, fell further back into themselves. Pinkie lost more of her color, Rarity’s mane and tail lost their lovely curls, Applejack’s head was now practically covered in her blond mane, and judging from the slight rhythmic trembling she must have been crying, Fluttershy was completely sobbing and wailing now, Rainbow Dash was looking at the ground in anger, although at who or what remained to be seen but if the tears were any indication, it was self-loathing, and Twilight was babbling nonsense. “The Elements of Harmony have completely rejected you, and for good reason,” Celestia said. “While Jason was alive, it seemed as if they may have held out hope you’d come to your senses like you did with Zecora, but when your actions caused his suicide, they deemed you beyond unworthy of ever reclaiming these again.” She teleported them away and looked down at them. “Now then, for your punishments. Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby stripped of your title as a princess and all privileges that affords you, including your servants which you never even thought to utilize and instead forced it all on Spike. And speaking of, I am taking him into my custody instead. You were clearly not ready to raise him.” Twilight briefly came out of her madness and pleaded, “No! Please Princess! I can fix this! I can make things right with Spi-!” “I have spoken,” Celestia said firmly. She then turned to Rainbow Dash. “As for you, Rainbow Dash, I hereby remove you from the Wonderbolts effective immediately. All of your accolades and medals will be revoked and your record wiped. It will be as if you never joined.” Rainbow closed her eyes, her wings hanging limply by her side as she cried a bit, gritting her teeth and bucking the air in frustration. Celestia turned to Applejack. “Applejack Apple, my first thought was to revoke my land grant to your family for your heinous actions against Jason, but that would be cruel to the food production in this town. Since you were the only pony there when he killed himself and witnessed it, I don’t need to further punish you. Instead, you will live with what you’ve done.” “Understood,” Applejack said, her voice barely above a whisper. Celestia turned to Pinkie Pie. “I believe the same punishment can go for you, Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Celestia said. “Your actions against Jason, while not violent, contributed greatly to his suffering. You will have to live with that.” As Pinkie blubbered in shame, Celestia turned to Rarity. “Rarity, I am revoking your business license effective immediately. You will never be allowed to own a business ever again. You will simply be another run of the mill seamstress with no business to call your own.” Rarity was bawling now, holding onto Fluttershy, but Celestia simply ignored her as she turned last to Fluttershy. “As for you, Fluttershy, your veterinarian license issued to you by Twilight is hereby null and void. You will no longer be allowed to help those poor innocent creatures in need ever again, just like you failed to help Jason.” Celestia took a few steps back, spreading her wings and looking at the gathered crowd of ponies who were watching this in confusion. She glared at them, then turned back at the six. “But I’m not finished here yet. Everything that this town has done to Jason and any other creatures who are not ponies will be revealed and shown to the rest of Equestria publicly. Your failures will be broadcast for all to see. All of your accolades as the former Bearers will be destroyed and publicly burned. You will simply become six ponies who failed their mandate.” Before she could continue, a new male voice called out, “It is unfortunate that I have awoken to see such a state.” Everypony turned to see a glowing transparent version of Jason Wright standing nearby. He looked like a blue apparition with his frame encased in a slightly brighter blue light. His expression was neutral and he had his arms crossed. This apparition still bore the wounds, scars, and gaunt figure of the dead human. His one good eye scanned the crowd of ponies, then looked down at the former bearers. In a calm and serene tone, the apparition said, “You six and the rest of this town have corrupted my tenets and have cast out a creature who was once a kind and happy man. Your princess is correct that you had the chance to change your ways while he still lived, but you threw him away like refuse. Out of sight, out of mind as the human saying goes. You are not only no longer worthy to be bearers of harmony, but do not deserve the castle that bears the title of friendship.” The apparition turned next to Celestia, and the monarch shrank back in fear, but tried not to show it. The materialization of Harmony that took Jason’s form simply shook his head in utter disappointment, saying absolutely nothing. For Celestia, however, it was like an arrow to the heart. He then turned and held out his hand towards the crystal castle. It began to glow slightly, then shake and tremble before suddenly bursting into blue hot flames. Everypony watched in disbelief as the crystal walls and towers of the Castle of Friendship began to whither away into ash, disappearing into nothingness. The six ponies and the rest of the town could only watch in horror as the once majestic structure crumbled into nothing more than dust until nothing remained of it save for a black scar on the land in the shape of its foundation. The soul of Harmony turned to Celestia, walked up to her, and snapped his fingers. A box appeared next to Celestia, all bearing a number of items inside. “Give these to the only two creatures who lived in that castle who did nothing to Jason: Starlight Glimmer and Spike the Dragon. They will not suffer for the sins of others.” Celestia nodded as the apparition turned to the crowd. In a mighty voice, he spoke: “Your town is unworthy to even exist! However, as I rarely take direct action, I will do nothing. This town will fall on its own, not by my hand. May this be a harsh lesson not just to Ponyville but to all of Equestria: Harmony and friendship are not to be hoarded! They are to be spread everywhere, even to races you fear and loathe! And you are not to force change, but to allow others to explore their own means of achieving harmony and friendship. Farewell!” And with that, the apparition brightened and vanished in a white flash. Two years later, and things had gone vastly downhill for the once peaceful and happy town of Ponyville. When the news about all of the atrocious acts taken against Jason Wright were publicly shown to the rest of Equestria, not just in the papers but in a countrywide magical broadcast and later that year a book detailing every single detail, Ponyville became a pariah among the nation. It went from being called Friendliest Town in Equestria to Cruelest Tartarus-hole in Equestria. Nopony wanted anything to do with the town, and it quickly began losing tourists. Ponies from Ponyville quickly began to pack and leave, but even their reputation as former Ponyvillians preceded them. They were treated poorly by other ponies in other towns. This led to civil unrest among the populace, so much so that Celestia had to take action. She created a coastal town rather secluded from the rest of Equestria known as Maretime Bay. There, the ponies who were fleeing Ponyville could live in some semblance of peace, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the kingdom. As for the former bearers, once news of their cruelty reached Equestrian ears, they all began going their separate ways. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both went back to Cloudsdale, living in their parents’ houses and avoiding contact with everypony save for their parents. Said parents did their best to help, but even Rainbow Dash’s parents couldn’t just dismiss what they did. They were rarely seen after that. A despondent Pinkie Pie returned to her home on the rock farm. Her family was as loving as they could be, after the lectures, of course. Even Maud had a few words to say, not to mention the wall of words that came from Marble. However, they made it clear that they said this out of the hopes that Pinkie would become a better pony because of it. Rarity, much like the others, began to return to her parents’ house, but since they were part of the problem in Ponyville, they had to move to Maretime Bay when the town began shutting down. She was never seen much after that, either. Applejack was the only pony whose family didn’t leave. Despite everything, their farm still provided an essential service to the nation. However, their workload became harder since the entire town of Ponyville had been deserted. Every day, Applejack had to look at the once vibrant town and could only remember what had been. Not only that, but the tree where Jason committed suicide in was never touched by her or her family. Instead, it grew more and more wild, its apples falling and never being eaten by anypony else. As for Twilight, she spent those two years in a mental facility. The alicorn couldn’t accept what had happened to Jason, insisting that he was still alive and that she was learning so much about his world. She described events that hadn’t happened, such as Pinkie Pie’s party for Jason, how the town had gotten to accept him as a friend to ponies, and even began talking about Spike being more and more included in the events of her fictitious day to day life. The doctors and nurses worked around the clock to help heal her mind and help her accept what had happened. When she finally accepted what she’d done, she quickly followed through on the other stages of grief until she accepted that her actions had caused the suicide of an innocent being. When she was released, she was moved to Maretime Bay, living in the town’s lighthouse and tending to it as the new lighthouse keeper. The doctor’s thought that her keeping busy would keep her from regressing into her manic state, something that she was prone to do during her recovery process. She learned quickly how to do chores and such on her own. Since she still had her alicorn magic, she discovered that it was super easy, barely an inconvenience. She regretted the treatment she gave Spike more and more with each passing day. The most outrage came from the Crystal Empire, especially when news of how their hero Spike had been treated by Twilight and her friends reached their ears. He was welcomed by Princess Cadance and Shining with open hooves, and the latter tried his best to make things right with the little brother he’d always had but never really acknowledged. Spike went between Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, though, as Princess Celestia and Luna were also hoping to build a good relationship with him, which he was a bit reluctant to accept at first, but soon he saw the two as family as well. He quickly let go of his feelings for Rarity when he learned of what she’d done to Jason. He was sent to school in the Crystal Empire and made some new friends his own age. He even developed a crush on a filly there. Funnily enough, she was the complete opposite of Rarity. The news of the death of Jason Wright by suicide along with the cause spread not along all of Equestria, but outside it as well. There had never been so much tension between Equestria and other nations, especially when news of how certain Ponyvillians treated other races. The news even reached the lawless city Thornfall located deep within the Badlands just outside of Equestria. Specifically, it reached the ears of an individual in a darkened corner building. He was sitting at a desk, reading over several job requests he’d received when the door burst open. Quickly, he pulled his hood over his face so as not to be seen, although his partner hadn’t informed him that there was anyone coming by today. He was just slipping his gloves on when his partner, an abyssinian male named Tobias, came bursting in. He was about one year younger than the individual and had fur as black as night save for a small spot of white on his forehead. His yellow eyes were wide with alarm as he rushed in, catching his breath. He was wearing a black coat and had a pair of daggers attached to the belt wrapped around his waist. The figure at the desk sighed, and looking at him through the darkened hood that obscured his features, he said, “Toby, you know better than to come bursting in.” “S-Sorry, G,” Tobias panted, “b-but there’s news!” “What is it?” he asked, leaning back. Tobias grabbed a glass of water that was on the desk, gulping it all down as he continued to catch his breath. “I managed to snag this from some new ponies I saw in town.” He pulled out a newspaper from his pocket and slid it onto the table. The figure looked down at it, then back at Tobias, who turned the paper over and pointed. “It’s an article from one of those Equestrian newspapers,” he explained. “Apparently, you weren’t the first to come here after all.” The figure looked at the paper, then reached up to his hood. He slid it off, revealing a young-looking human male with long brown wavy hair, light blue eyes, and a couple of scars on said face, including a cut that went from above his eye to below it, the result of an encounter with a goblin assassin that had nearly killed him had it not been for Tobias’ timely rescue. He reached down and grabbed the newspaper, reading the article aloud. “Today marks the five year anniversary of the suicide of one Jason Wright, the first human to traverse the expanse of worlds from his to ours. His tale is one well known to all ponies today. He wished to befriend ponykind but instead was the victim of the cruelty of ponies from the now infamous town of Ponyville. He was chased out of the town, tormented, abused, starved, and rejected by those ponies who were said to be the Bearers of Harmony alongside their entire town. Now, he is dead, a tragic tale of failure and loss. “Two years ago, Princesses Celestia and Luna established this day as the Day of Remembrance. We don’t just remember Jason’s tragedy, but we hold this day in high regard because it reminds us that the Tenets of Harmony are for all races all across the world, not just here in our kingdom. May we never forget that despite everything we claim to hold dear, we are flawed. We must rise above these flaws if we are to become better ponies.” Tobias looked down at the human in front of her, leaning down and looking at him curiously. “So…what do we do, G?” he asked. “What do we do?” he repeated, raising an eyebrow. “We do what we always do.” He looked at the papers scattered on his desk, then reached down and grabbed one, picked it up, and showed it to him. “We work to survive.” Tobias looked at it, then chuckled. “Excellent choice,” he said as he put his hood over his head. “So, Gregory, when do you want to start this job?” Gregory Eugene Graystone, twenty nine year old human male, reached down and retrieved a face mask sitting on the desk. “You know what they say, Toby,” he said as he placed it over his face and touched something on the side. Instantly, the mask began to expand, covering his entire face until his human features were hidden. When it was covered, the eyepieces began glowing a light blue and two vertical lines of light light light appeared on the voice modulator. He stood and grabbed two large serrated blades which he strapped to his belt. As he put his hood over his head, he spoke. “There’s no time like the present.” As he spoke, the line on his modulator brightened and dimmed to match his voice. Not only that, but his own voice changed completely. It was deeper and more menacing, enough to intimidate those around him. Tobias chuckled and grabbed his own bag. “Lead on, Gregory.” “That’s not my name,” the now disguised human reminded Tobias. Tobias rolled his eyes and nodded. “Fine, fine. Lead on…Revan.” With that, Tobias followed his human friend and companion, the mysterious mercenary named Revan, out into the crime filled city. The mercenary party Shadow Dawn had work to do.