Path of the Unforgiven

by HeatseekerX51

Ch 9: Where The Wild Things Are

The first thing I remember about my time aboard the Red Talon, was the taste of the salt water on my tongue.

I awoke face down on the wooden deck, and I could feel the subtle bob and bounce of the water under the ship. I opened my eyes and watched the thin film of seawater wash over the knots and fibers, droplets fell from the bangs of my mane. There was a cool breeze, the sound of gulls, and the creaking of the hull told me that we were sailing and not docked.

“Look what we found skulkin’ around the island!” I heard one of them say. The shuffle of hooves sounded around me, and the sun was blotted out as they converged. A few chuckled, a few poked at me. I was too weak from malnutrition, and I was still too groggy from the blow to my head to make any pretense of defending myself from that gaggle of pirates, so I decided not to give them any reason to skewer me.

I made slow progress getting to stand, careful not to make any sudden moves, not that I could have been mustered any more than a feeble swing in my sorry state. Like earlier on the beach my strength deserted me, and I slumped back down on the deck with a thump, eliciting a chorus of hearty laughter from the crew.

“Look at ‘em! Washed out like a dish rag!”

“He’s a big fella isn’t he?

“I think he’ll make a good galley maid!”

“You think cap’m will let us hoist ‘im up like a piñata?”

The last suggestion apparently was a riot, earning another round of cheers. Lifting my head, I looked around at my captors, a motley collection of ponies from near and distant lands. Unicorns, Cloudies, Tillers, all of them hardened by lives of seafaring and plundering. I saw the two from the beach staring down at me smirking, the Pegasus taking another swig from the bottle.

“Had a devil of a time getting’ you aboard mate!” The Earth pony said to me, his speech slurred from the drink. His voice was gruff, the kind that meant he spent a lot of time yelling, which meant he was somepony of position. “Almost lost you overboard a few times in the dinghy.”

“Why did you take me?” I asked. “What do you want with me?”

“It’s our general practice not to maroon castaways, considered wasting resources. Per the Captain’s directive of course.”

Lucky me, I thought.

“As for what’s to be done with ya’, well that prerogative belongs to the captain of this ‘ere vessel.”

My temporary sobriety faltered, and a fainting spell threatened to overtake me. Whatever sustenance I got on the island hadn’t gone very far, I needed water and something to eat.

“Your captain…” I managed to focus my mind enough to say, “Can he get me-”

“Uh!” He cut me off, everyponies attention shifting away from me. “Whatever you were gonna ask, you can ask ‘im yerself.”

From above us I could hear the flapping of wings, and a shadow passed over the deck, the speed of it and my dizziness prevented me from discerning much detail.

“Attention on deck lads! Captain’s returned!”

The crowd parted in front of me, and something landed on the boards with a loud thump. Nopony spoke, like they were all waiting for permission to break the silence.

The Captain walked towards me from where he landed, boots plodding with every step, and what I remember being a strange clicking sound.

Now even then I was a relatively large stallion, just how we were bred. But when the captain grabbed me under my jaw and lifted my face up to his, I was startled by the strength. I found myself nose-to-nose with a curved, scarred beak, and two of the most furious eyes I’ve ever seen.

“What’s this dried-out, stinky bilge rat doin’ on my ship?!”

I had rarely the chance to see griffin’s before in my life. The ones I had typically had short sharp beaks, and demurred colors to blend in with the rocky terrain of their mountainous homeland. The beak in front of me was large, dark, and curved downwards. His feathers were a bright collection of yellow, green, blue and red. His talons dug into my jaw, and they felt like nails.

“Found ‘im on the island Cap’m. All starved and bedraggled.”

“Hmm.” Was all the Captain murmured as he scrutinized me. He cocked his head sideways to examine me up and down, making small grunts and barks as he went.
“He’s a stout Unicorn I’ll say that for ‘im.”

He let go of my face and let me fall back down.

“Here’s‘ow it is mate,*BRAK!* You got two options: either stay onboard and pull your weight, or you go back in the drink! I’m always lookin’ for a strong back, but I ain’t got no tolerance for useless eaters!”

Well, what choice did I have? Join up with a band of rogues and criminals, or take a dive.
“I’ve always had an interest in ships.” I told him.

He smiled, as best he could with that monstrous beak anyways, and gave a slight chuckle.
“Good call lad, hate to loose another perfectly good shiphoof to the brine.”

My world changed when a bucket of fresh water was dumped on me, and I was helped to stand by a few of my new fellow pirates. The captain stood in front of me, not intimidated in the slightest by the fact that I was a good four hooves taller than him.

“My name is Captain Skorn, and this my ship, the Red Talon.” He stretched out his wings and gestured to the breadth of his seaborne kingdom. Looking upwards, I saw the icon on his sails, a pair of crimson claws.
“We travel the world in search of treasure and plunder, *BRAK* taking what we please and living the lives of the truly free.”

I glanced around and saw his crew all proudly nodding in agreement.
“But I’ll warn you right now greenhorn.” Skorn began in a low, threatening tone as he dug his claws into the floorboards and dragged a series of gashes before holding the talons up to my throat.
“If you ever try to cheat me, bamboozle me, or betray me in anyway, I’ll cut ‘yer belly open and string ‘yer gizzards across my masts for decoration. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal, Captain.”

“Good.” He said before turning away from me. A scraggily-maned Pegasus handed him a tri-cornered hat with feathered trim and a plume of larger ones sticking out of the top. A small monkey scampered its way though the forest of legs to climb up Skorn’s backside and perched on his shoulder.
“Since I ain’t got the patience to call you something different every time I needs to, be a good lad and tell us all ‘yer name.”

What should I tell him? I wondered. Who I was on land no longer mattered, there was nothing left for me, not after what happened in Aquileia. I was a nopony, with an old life too painful to want to carry on. This was my chance for a new beginning, to carve out my own fate. I gave my cutie mark a quick glance, deciding if I should tell him my real name, or…
“My name… my name is Sable Star.”

“Sable Star eh? Sounds fancy. Oh well, not the first high-born to turn to piracy. First mate! Find him a job.”

“Aye, aye Captain!” The Earth pony from before responded as Skorn strolled off, ducking down into the lower deck.

I wondered about myself in that moment. Here I was, a thousand or more leagues from a home I could never return to, abandoning my name and my history. It hurt, but what alternative was there? No longer would I be known as the Storm-Crier, no longer was I the Shield of the Aubergine.

No longer was I Prince Æclypse.
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PRESENT DAY CANTERLOT.
DAWN

With a deep breath, Celestia prepared to relieve her sister and assume her daily duties. Standing in the shadow of the archway, she watched Luna basking in the last slivers of the starlight, and the first few layers of the sunrise just over the horizon awaiting its avatar to summon it.

Luna had spared Celestia another dreamtime visit for information, leaving her to the harassment of her own subconscious. Conflicting visions of Æclypse had stormed through her mind while she slept, and the princess of the dawn had much to think about. There remained a few secrets yet about the whole affair that she kept tight to her breast, so maybe this was all a sign for her to unburden herself.

She lifted a hoof to step forward, but hesitated, letting it dangle inches off the floor.
I have seen fate do marvelous things in my time, and I rarely see it coming. Am I about to reveal thousand year-old secrets? Is that what destiny has in store for me?

“Good morning Luna.” She said, strolling onto the balcony.

Luna turned and gave her slight smile. “I believe that is your discretion sister.”

Joining her sibling by her side, Celestia gazed out over the east, “I am very sorry that things between us have been so strained lately. I… I had not anticipated having to bring all this up ever again.”

“Even we are but threads in the great tapestry of life Celestia, mere caricatures appearing on one panel and gone the next.”

Luna glanced over to her side but did not meet Celestia’s eyes. “I owe you an apology as well. It was inappropriate to try and seize your memories like that. I was angry, I felt that I deserved a little reprisal.”

Celestia knew what she meant by the statement, but it still sent a chill up her spine to think of Luna when she got angry.
“You deserved the truth, which I denied to you in my fear. It wasn’t what he would take from Equestria that struck at me the deepest. It was what he would take from me.”

Moving to face Luna directly, Celestia swallowed hard. “I was afraid of him taking you away from me.”

“Take me away from you?” Luna asked, “What are you talking about?”

“For as long as I can remember, it had always been the two of us, the only ones of our kind. We had never been apart for a day. Of course we had seen may ponies grow, get married, and move away from their foal-hood homes. When you told me about your affair, that’s what went through my mind. You would go to Thule and leave me behind.”

Luna went over to the wall of the balcony, and putting her forehooves on the ledge, leaned her chest to the surface.
“While I had found somepony to spend time with, for all your adulation from the masses, you were alone. The truth Sister, is that I pitied you.”

She laid the left side of her face on her limbs, glancing back to Celestia. “Ponies bowed and scraped to your every whim, but not one of them could see you as somepony who feels as they do. They looked up at you and saw a demigoddess from the heavens, and failed to see somepony who laughs, cries, jokes, gets upset, eats cake.
But despite my chagrin at being the lesser light, I was willing to let you have all the fame and glory. I had a handsome stallion whose teeth sparkled like the stars in the night sky.”

“I had you.” Celestia said, coming over to lean her own legs on the sill.

“Yes, you did. But we know that’s not the same is it? Or must we summon Cadence to explain things?”

Celestia couldn’t suppress a chuckle as she jostled Luna in the ribs with a hoof. “I had my share of suitors too, least you forget who had more dance partners at the balls.”

“The sun does shine on the meek and great alike.” Luna commented.

Celestia wasn’t quite sure how to take that, but she shrugged it off. “You’re right though, I was lonely. When I first saw that somepony had you smitten, I was a little jealous. You were never as encumbered by the royal life like I was, and you had a freer spirit than I did in our youth.”

The sisters gazed at each other for a moment, letting down the weight of their responsibility and history for a few precious moments.

“It drove me up the wall when you refused to tell me who it was!” The pale Alicorn chided before they both began laughing.

“I remember you chasing me around the garden one afternoon,” Luna reminisced, “You kept demanding that I tell you who he was, you tried to tickle me into hysterics. But I could see that you were happy for me.”

The night stars had faded away, their time to shine having passed.

“Even after I found out it was Æclypse, I wanted to be happy for you Luna.” looking to the grounds below, Celestia sighed. “But my fear of being left alone got the better of me, and in the end, that’s exactly how I ended-up for a thousand years.”

“Sometime sister, you must tell me if anypony dared to capture your heart while I was gone.”

There had in fact been somepony Celestia thought, whom romance had paired her with. Who it was would have been scandalizing for her, had he not been from someplace far distant, a reflection of somepony else. But that was her secret, her memory alone to cradle and hold to her core.
“Someday.” She said casually.

“May I ask how you plan to handle our apprentice princess? You have had great faith in Twilight Sparkle thus far.”

The change in subject was welcome, one Celestia was relieved to talk about.
“I’ll answer her questions, tell a few stories. Don’t worry, I’ll be fair to Æclypse.”

“You’ll grant her access to the Thule room then?”

“Better.” Celestia chimed with optimism. “I’ll let her decide what to do with it. Reopen the section, or even move it all somewhere else. She does have an awfully lot of empty rooms in that castle of hers.”

A pang of energy gripped both sister’s horns, a sign that the changing of the guard had reached the end of its grace period.

“The Moon calls for rest.” Luna announced,

“And the Sun calls to rise.” Celestia matched.

Side by side both Alicorns floated into the air, eyes closed, horns aglow. Like a giant ceiling mural being rotated, the moon descended into the west as the sun finally climbed above the horizon, its golden rays stretching across the sky to turn it from dark blue to light.

“Another dawn begets the waking life of Equestria.” Luna began in poetic voice. “Blossoming in it the vitality and harmony of each of its inhabitants.”

“Having rested contently though the tranquility of the night.” Celestia finished, “They arise restored and joyous to seek their destinies.”

They landed together facing the sunrise, letting the warmth bath over them.

Luna allowed herself a small grin. “Another successful dawn my sister.”

“I’ll make sure to annotate the tally board.” Unknown to all but a few, Celestia maintained a chalkboard in her room, whereon she etched a mark for every morning the two had brought since Luna’s return.

“I still want you to show me your argument with Æclypse.” The casual tone of Luna’s voice dropped, her request serious. She spoke over her shoulder as she turned to leave.

“Since you shared with me your image of him, I suppose it’s only fair you see mine. Allow me to deal with the day’s affairs, and I promise, I’ll show you what happened.” Celestia offered a sincere expression, hoping to put the recent anger between them to rest.

“See you then.” Luna left her sister on the balcony, the sound of the morning lifting up to be heard in the city.

Celestia took in the vista from her position. Birds chirping, shops starting their work, the bustle of traffic on the streets signaled the start of the daily lives of her subjects, those whom it was her duty to protect and guide.

Thinking back to those fateful days when she was forced to make decisions for Equestria’s future that would condemn, curse, and splinter a relative few for the good of the many. Looking down to the city and the lands beyond in the golden light of the morning, she knew that ultimately she had made the right decision. Through Discord, Sombra, Nightmare Moon, Tirek, and a thousand years of lonesomeness, Equestria had endured, Equestria had thrived, and so the lives of thousand of ponies were peaceful and prosperous.

That was the point of it all, she thought as she watched the citizens go about their routines. This was the reason why those burdens be borne, not for her own glory, not for her own comfort, but for theirs. She would give her life for them in a heartbeat if that’s what it took, that was the onus of her rule.

“Ahh… Your highness?”

The call of one of the palace guards broke her away from the calm of her meditation.
“Yes?” She asked him with matronly grace. “what is it?”

He was one of the many white stallions that served the palace, a fact she liked to instill in each of them during training, that their highest authority was Equestria, not her or any other royalty. For generations a dozen or so family bloodlines had provided the bulk of the volunteers, breeding many fine and hearty pristine white stallions. She had seen a hundred or more descendants, fathers, sons, and grandsons all kneel before her. It stuck her in the moment that the royal guard had been self-cultivated, a queer consequence of her efforts to keep them free.

“We think somepony broke into the Star Swirl the Bearded wing last night, the lock on the gate appears to have been forced open.”

Now this was strange. The Star Swirl wing went largely ignored by visitors, only Twilight and a few other dedicated scholars bothered with the dusty tomes.
“Was anything damaged or stolen?” Celestia

“We’re…. still trying to determine that Princess. The head librarian is on her way in, once she conducts her inspection we’ll know for sure. As of right now however, nothing appears to be disturbed.”

“Hopefully just a false alarm than.” Celestia remarked to give him some optimistic confidence. “Let me know if there’s any worthwhile development.”

“I will your highness.”
The stallion bowed before leaving, turning with the sharp, soldierly pivot.

Alone, Celestia wondered what could have happened last night. If somepony had managed to slip past the guards, and remain undetected long enough to access Star Swirl’s archives, then maybe the Thule wing wasn’t where her worry should be.
“Hmm.”

PONYVILLE
TWILIGHT’S CASTLE

“Uhhhh….”

Wanderlust slowly opened his eyes, and saw that he was laying on the floor. He winced as a throb of pain shot through his head, and he grit his teeth to restrain himself from crying out. He felt the puddle of drool that had accumulated under him, and soaked the right side of his muzzle. He wiped the side of his face and made a half-hearted effort to stand.

“Why did I think throttling that kid was a good idea?” He groaned.

Looking around at his surroundings, he tried to disperse the taste of morning breath, and was startled to find the sun beaming low through the window above him. It was intersected by a set of bars, one vertical, the other horizontal, which projected a large cross over the opposite wall.

“Morning? I was out all night? Jeez…”

The ramifications of his colossal blunder fell on him like an avalanche, the complete squandering of the headway he’d made in town.

“Stupid! Careless mistake! I was reckless! I played fast and loose with their goodwill. Now I’m… In some room.”

The space he was in was itself a curious thing. There was no door, the walls were a sparkling pinkish/purple, there was no door, and all the surfaces looked as if they had been hewn from solid crystal. I’m in Twilight’s castle! He realized.

“A crystal jail cell. I suppose I can knock this one off the bucket list.”

Going around the room, which was only big enough for a few strides at the widest, he felt for any indication of an opening or way out. It was now that it occurred to him that his saddle bags were not with him, and that was alarming.

“I’ve got to warn them, there can’t be much time left! HRRAW! If only I hadn’t lost my temper.”

Making his way around, he failed to find any crack, any crevice, the room was entirely sealed except for the window.

[sigh] “You’ve reeeeally done it this time, haven’t you old boy?”

Elsewhere in the castle, Twilight stared down at the diamond shaped crystal pedestal, on it, she watched Wanderlust search his room. In less than a day she had gone from looking forward to working with him, to imprisoning him in one of her spare rooms.

She had learned much about utilizing the magic of the crystals. Much like the kind that grew underneath Canterlot, she could use these for remote viewing to other parts of the castle, though she had yet to figure out how to get sound through. For now Wanderlust remained silent as he scratched at the walls and yelled for notice. She had sealed the doorway shut after putting him inside, Twilight didn’t want him disappearing before she got him to answer for himself.

“I see you in there Wanderlust.” She said. “I just don’t know what to do with you.”

She was sure the way he had abused the colt was a crime of some kind, but formal criminal laws generally wasn’t something they had in Ponyville. Ponies here just weren’t the type to be violent, besides, Twilight believed firmly in rehabilitation.

“I can’t just let you off the hook, but I can’t leave you in that room forever either.”

Twilight stepped back from the crystal pane, and threw herself stop her bed. On her back, she stared up at the ceiling, going over in her head what the logically right thing to do was. Eventually however, the conclusion that she had no precedent for this refused to be ignored. She needed help.

Trotting over to her work desk, she laid out a page of parchment, and dabbed her quill in the inkwell. Scrunching her mouth to the side, she thought hard about what exactly she would ask.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I write to you today not because of a lesson I have learned, but rather one I’m struggling to understand.

Twilight glanced over to the crystal panel, Wanderlust was banging on the wall, yelling something. She tapped the point of her feather on the side of the page, biting her lip.

There’s a new pony in town, his name is Wanderlust. At first he was the most interesting pony to come through since Cheese Sandwhich. He even knows about Thule, and agreed to help me with my research material. He’s done nothing but good for everypony he meets.

The image of Wanderlust holding that little colt against the wall last night played over again in her mind. The look in his eyes of rage, the snarl in his voice, like he was dealing with a monster instead of a child.

But he did something last night, something reprehensible that can’t be excused. It was inexplicable, totally contradicting his previous actions.

The contrast in his demeanor earlier in the day and at night had stunned her, and even as she lay his unconscious body in the room, she just couldn’t wrap her mind around such violence, such hatred from a pony.

I write to ask you Princess Celestia, for whatever guidance you can give me to understand how a good pony can do a terrible thing. Does he think he’s doing something right? Are we the ones in the wrong? I plan to talk to him, but I don’t know if I’ll trust anything he says.

She wanted to continue, but Twilight’s mind went blank on her for a second, and she found herself hovering the quill just above the paper as she tried to formulate her next thoughts. But try as she might, the next sentence just wouldn’t come.

“Twilight! Twilight!” Wanderlust yelled in his confinement. Aside from the window, there was positively no other access to the chamber. Frustrated at not being able to reach the outside, he sat on his rump and punched the floor with a hoof.
“That must be the reason behind the Everfree animals coming closer to civilization. They’re being pushed out by a more dominant specie. But I’ll never get them to believe me now, and I’ll certainly not get them the evidence they need sitting in solitary. I’ve got to break out of here. I’ve got to get my bags back before anypony looks inside.”

Leaning back from her desk, Twilight finally gave up trying to force her letter into completion.
“I’ll just have to finish it later.”

She got off her stool and on her way towards the doorway, she caught sight of the weather-worn saddle bags sitting in the corner. She remembered how startling heavy they had been when she took them. Even her own bags when packed with books were hardly as heavy, and despite the weight, nothing inside made a sound.

Twilight hadn’t given them much thought last night, but now with some time to kill and the chance to learn something about Wanderlust he may have wanted to withhold, she was tempted to see what they held.

Regarding them carefully, like she was approaching a potential danger, she pulled one of them towards her, and it scraped across the floor. It looked innocuous, just an old beat-up set that he probably still carried out of sentiment.

Her magical aura undid the belt clasp slowly, not knowing what might pop out. Twilight considered letting it be, but by now curiosity had full control of her motions. Gripping the cover flap, she began to open the bag.

“Twilight Dear?”

Surprised, Twilight looked up to see Rarity sheepishly poking her head in through the doorway. Shaking off the trance she greeted her friend, resecuring the bag and setting it aside.
“Oh, hi Rarity, what’s up?”

Rarity looked nervous, and she averted her gaze away from her friend as she entered.
“Well… I just feel so guilty after last night.”

“Don’t feel that way Rarity, you couldn’t have known he was going to-”

“That’s not what I mean Twilight, I’m trying to say that I should have been a better advocate yesterday.”

Twilight was visibly confused, “Wait, do you think we should have been easier on him last night?”

Rarity fidgeted for an answer, “I’m saying I shouldn’t have been so jealous of Trixie, and said something in his defense before Applejack went all ‘buck-wild’ on his head.”

“You were there with the rest of us, you saw what he was doing.” Twilight protested. “He hurt that little colt.”

“A colt I don’t recall seeing in town before two weeks ago.” Rarity said with a sharp intelligence in her eyes.

The Princess of Friendship was caught off guard by the observation, and realized that Rarity had a certain point. As a matter of fact, she didn’t even remember seeing that colt before last night herself. She paused to process what implications could be logically drawn, and things only got stranger. Looking over to her desk where her unfinished letter sat, and she made the decision that it could wait.

“Hear me out.” Rarity asked.

OVER PONYVILLE

Laying on a small cloud trying to enjoy her afternoon nap, Rainbow Dash huffed with irritation. Tossing and turning on her aerial bedding, she couldn’t remember a time when she hated being right so much. Wanderlust had been the talk of the town the past two days, and the fact that he had totally shouldered her out of the local lime-light was the least of the things she had against him.

He was shifty, he withheld information about himself, he conned his way into Rarity’s house, he has some cockamamie plan to open a school, and then he beats up a kid. She had every reason, personal and objective to dislike him, so why did it bug her so much she wondered?

Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had no problem getting on with their day. But loyalty was a resentful animal, and would not tolerate threats to her friends. There was just something about him, swimming just beneath the surface that Rainbow couldn’t put her wing-tip on. One thing she couldn’t figure out, was that if he really was such a despicable fraud, why would he expose himself so blatantly? Didn’t he know committing a crime in the presence of a Princess would get him locked-up?

“And on top of it all he ruined a perfectly good napping afternoon!” She grumbled.

Rainbow Dash rose up to stretch her stomach, and when she plopped back down, she looked down over the edge of the cloud and came face-to-face with the offset eyes of Derpy.
“BAH! Derpy! You scared m-, I mean…. I wasn’t expecting you there.”

Clinging to the underside of Rainbow’s cloud, Derpy was as cheerful as usual.
“Sorry about that Rainbow Dash, I didn’t want to disturb your brooding. I was just going to ask if you’ve seen Wanderlust anywhere?”

“Uhhh! There he is again! I’m sick of hearing about Wanderlust! What did he do to you?”

“Do to me?” Derpy walked over the edge of the cloud to sit beside Rainbow. “He helped me.”

“Helped you with what?” Rainbow asked skeptically.

“I got caught in the rain the other night, and some little colts made me drop my muffins. They did it on purpose. But he came along and made me feel better. He didn’t know me at all, but he saw that I was sad, and sat in the rain with me. He said that whenever I’m sad, Told me I was pretty.” Derpy said with a blush and a small giggle.

“So he flashed a grin and told you how cute you are. Sounds exactly like how he sweet-talked Rarity.”

Derpy’s brow crouched down, “Oh no, not like that Rainbow Dash. He wanted me to remember to… um… wanted me to…” she tapped the side of her head to jog the memory. “Oh! Yeah, he wanted me to remember that even when things get bad, there’s always good stuff to keep you going. Like ‘cause I was sad, I shouldn’t forget what a happy pony I am.

At lease I think that’s what he meant.”

Rainbow grumbled. She wanted to hate Wanderlust, she wanted to be able to point to him and say ‘bad guy’, like they had been able to do with others before. But he was such a mixed-bag she just couldn’t fit him into one of her neat little boxes. Nuance wasn’t exactly one of her strong suits.

“I saw Wanderlust last night when he was getting kicked in the head.” Dash said before flying off.

Derpy put a hoof to her chest “Oh my.”

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After a week on the Red Talon, I was beginning to get my sea legs under me.

Before I washed-up on that island I had spent a few days fleeing from a nightmare, chasing after a fantasy of a hope. Now, I was trying to leave behind my whole life to become vandal. Under the penalty of Celestia’s dictate I was exiled from my home, forced to abandon my family, my tribe, my heritage, my legacy, and my honor. All that remained to me now was my willpower.

My initial few days on the Talon were a learning process. The first mate, the earth pony named Salty Veins, took me under his wing. Ship protocol was both strictly enforced and ignored, depending on the situation, but always with the captain. The rigging was a science, and was difficult comprehend how the intricate system worked. But I’ve always been a fast learner, and took every opportunity to get my hooves into the work. If my father could see me now.

On the third day, a few of us had been below deck having some lunch when they put the first test at me. I was sitting alone, when one of the group of three, a Pegasus who I would come to know as Grey Skies came up to me and ordered me to give him my apple. Knowing that I had to nip any pretense of weakness in the bud around these cutthroats, I stood up to him, and for a few tense seconds everypony was quiet. He shoved me, so I lifted him in my magic and slammed him against the wall.

His friends were shocked, and while Grey Skies recovered they burst into the most raucous laughter I would ever see on that ship. I made three new friends that day.

My work ethic combined with my physical presence quickly earned most of the crew’s respect. Salty Veins especially took a liking to me, and often told me stories about life at sea, be they ships they plundered, beautiful foreign lands they visited, and even strange phenomena none of them ever understood. I found myself liking the tales of the last most of all, I guess it spoke to the dreamer in me.

Captain Skorn was at times gregarious, and other times a violent lunatic. I once saw him rescue a family of sea-ponies from a drifting net that had ensnared them, then the very next day we boarded a ship and one by one he took the hapless crew into the sky and dropped them in the ocean for laughs.

His little pet, the monkey Te-Ki was as vile a little demon as I ever encountered, and it took a great pleasure tormenting me. He would steel my food, rip my clothes, and conspire to get me in fights with the other crew members. It once took three others to pull me away from a brawl which I later found out Te-Ki had instigated.

But life on the Red Talon was mostly just waiting out the days. We’d make port every now and then for trade and restocking, and I’d enjoy exploring the local culture. After a while I had my own memories of mesmerizing lands and sights, meeting folk I never hear of existing, and learning exotic magic spells. I had met many a fair mare in my travels too, leaving more than a few of them pining for my return. But despite then many times I was intimate with some beautiful mare, it never equaled the feeling I had when I was with Luna.

By the gods I missed her, and often thought of trying to reach out to her through the dreamscape. But that would only reopen the wounds I was trying to escape from. Besides, after Luna only one mare had managed to crack the shell around my heart, and she was gone now.

There was a pivotal moment about a week and a half after I joined Skorn’s crew, one that shaped the rest of my relationship with him.
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CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CLUBHOUSE

“Alright everypony, looks like we got a genuine mystery on our hooves.”

Applebloom poised herself on the podium, the four members of the growing club seated before her.
“Not just Button Mash and his mom, but several other pony’s houses have been mysteriously abandoned, with letters saying they were on vacation.”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo chimed, “And all on the edge of town too!”

“Near the Everfree…” A worried Sweetie Belle shuddered.

After their investigation last night, only one thing connected the missing ponies: the fact that they all close to the foreboding forest.

Rumble adjusted his cape to allow his wings to stretch, “It’s not just the empty houses either. I don’t know about you, but I noticed a lot ponies acting weird last night.”

Indeed, in the course of interviewing neighbors and potential witnesses, they had gotten some uncomfortable reactions. Some gave non answers, some quickly found reasons to get away, others even got a nasty attitude.

Shady Daze stamped his hoof where he sat, “Something funny is going on in this town! And I don’t like it one bit!”

They all nodded in agreement. “Do you think we should tell our sisters and Princess Twilight?” Applebloom said.

“Kinda would be the smart thing to do…. but we don’t have any actual proof of something wrong do we?” The doubt in Sweetie Belle’s voice brought them back down to Earth. For all their gut feelings, they still lacked any solid proof of a crime.

Applebloom put a hoof to her jaw in consideration, “Maybe we should hold off on telling them for now, at least until we have some evidence.”

“I think we should tell ‘em, just to be safe.” Rumble suggested as he took a step into the center of the group. “This definitely sounds like something we should tell them.”

“I have an idea!” Scootaloo jumped next to Rumble, excitement shining in her eyes.
“Rumble and Applebloom can go tell her sister, while me, Shady, and Sweetie Belle go look for some evidence near the Everfree!”

“No!” came a cry from the doorway, followed by a crash and a yelp. The caped five, surprised, turned to see an earth colt laying sprawled on the porch, half hidden by the wall he’d been eavesdropping from. He had a dull green coat and charcoal hair.

For a few seconds both parties simply stared at one another.

“Hey…” Sweetie Belle said, peeking out from behind the others, “I know you from school, you’re the one who keeps looking over at us.”

“What are you doing snooping on us? Who are you?” Shady Daze demanded.

The colt slowly stood, regarding the rest like a cat about to pounce. His little body trembled with fear, his pupils contracted, and he licked his lips before speaking.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. B-but, you need to stay away from the Everfree. Don’t go near there.”

“Stay away from the forest? What are you talking about?” Applebloom asked, not so much suspicious of him, but concerned, because he had been getting more nervous the longer he stayed.

“I’ve already said too much.” He said glancing to and fro. “But I don’t want to see you guys get hurt. So I‘m telling ya, stay away! Please!”

He began to back away, but the Crusaders edged closer.

“Wait!” Sweetie Belle called out, “Why is the Everfree so dangerous? Why won’t you tell us?”

His daring at its end, the colt dashed away from the club house, tripping on his way down the ramp, and scampering off.

“Come back!” Rumble yelled as he used his wings to glide down to the ground, ahead of the rest as they fell in pursuit.

The colt tired to evade the Crusaders by heading into Market Row, dodging and weaving through the crowd. Scootaloo and Rumble were the closest on his heels, being able to leap and glide short distances and over obstacles.

Between legs, under carts, over wheels, and around corners, the colt tried to escape, but every time he though he’d shaken the Pegasus, the earth ponies Applebloom and Shady Daze would appear, their natural strength pushing them on.

He had one last trick, but it was risky.

Scootaloo and Shady were only a few paces behind him, where he took a sudden sharp turn into Sugercube Corner. Several ponies were waiting in line, Pinkie at the counter serving them. He jumped on the counter just as Shady and Scoots banked into the room, and he leapt off onto a large bowl of small, button-sized candies.

“Hey!” Pinkie cried out.

Hitting the lip of the bowl, he sent the hard-coated confections flying into the air, forcing them all to shield their faces.

By the time they could look again, the colt was gone.

“Did you guys see which way he went?” Rumble asked the rest of the Crusaders when they caught up. But they all shook their heads.

A few minutes later, and they were all strolling through the town square, keeping a watchful eye out for the colt.
“I’ve noticed him in class a few times.” Sweetie Belle explained, “But don’t think I ever caught his name.”

“I think it’s Leafy Green? or something to do with plants.” Trying to think, Shady looked upwards.

“Whoever he is, we gotta find him.” The youngest Apple decided, “He knows what’s going on in the Everfree, what’s causin’ all the weird stuff.”

“Speaking of weird!” Pointing a hoof down the street, Scootaloo stared open mouth at who was coming towards them.

“Button!” Both Rumble and Shady shouted as they galloped towards their friend, amazed to see him alive and well.

“Hey guys.” The formerly missing Button Mash said as he was flanked. “What ah… What are you up to?”

“What have we been up to?” Shady shook his head in astonishment, “We’ve been looking for you!”

Rumble put a hoof on Button’s cheek, testing to see if it was real flesh. “We thought you and your mom went missing!”

“Didn’t you see the note we left? We were on a short vacation.”

“So you’re back now?” Applebloom asked, the three fillies coming to see him for themselves. “Nuthin’ bad or weird happened to you?”

“No really. It was actually great, That’s why I was looking for you guys, my mom bought me an awesome new game that I wanna show you.”

“New game huh?” Scootaloo, gave her friend a wary glance, “Alright, cool, lets see it.”

“Come on.” Button said with a wave, “It’s at home.”

A short walk later, Button Mash’s cottage was in sight, him at the head of the troop, Rumble and Shady behind, the fillies in the back. Rumble gave a small look over his shoulder at Sweetie Belle, and he scrunched his face as a thought occurred to him. Giving Shady a subtle elbow, he whispered from the side of his mouth.
“Hey Shady, you noticing anything weird?”

“I don’t think so, why?” Shady’s voice equally hushed.

“Think about it, we’re going over Button’s house. Us and three girls. And one of ‘ems Sweetie Belle.”

It dawned on Shady that he had a point. Their friend Button was uncomfortable around girls on a good day, and he was positively terrified of the direct attention of his crush. But here he was, leading them all along like nothing was out of the ordinary.
“hey… you’re right. he should be panicking right now. Something is up.”

Coming up to the house, they were greeted by Button’s mom, who opened the door for them as they arrived.
“Come on in my little ponies, Button told me he was inviting some friends over.”

Button Mash turned and gave them all a wide grin before leading them in. One by one they entered, Shady and Rumble trading nervous glances as they passed over the threshold. Sweetie Belle looked up to the older mare as she walked by her.
“Thank you for having us.” She said politely, remembering one of the etiquette lessons her sister had managed to get through.

“A pleasure dear.” Button’s mom said with a warm smile. Once all had gone inside, she closed the door, checking to see of anypony else had witnessed the children come in. Seeing that none were around, she cracked a sly grin.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One night the Red Talon was caught in a beastly storm. Waves as high as the mountain peaks of my homeland carried the ship into the sky before we plummeted down the other side at a terrifying degree. For hours we couldn’t tell if it was day or night, the clouds obscuring the sun or moon totally. The wind and rain at times felt like they would tear us apart, and I thought Perun, the storm god of Thule had chased me down to punish me.

We were huddled below deck, just trying to wait out the worst of it, when we heard several lines snapping. The ship pitched violently, and we knew the sails had been turned aside.

Putting aside my fear and better judgment, I raced above deck into the storm. Salty Veins clung onto me to try and prevent me from going, yelling that it was madness, but I shook him loose. Once in the open, I was assaulted by rain coming at me as hard as hail, but I had survived perilous weather before.

Hugging my body to the main mast, I used my magic to right the sail, and reattach several lines. There remained a few however, higher up, that I just couldn’t get a hold on. With my heart in my throat I shimmied up the trunk, until I was about halfway to the top.

I was finally able to get a magical hold of the lines as they whipped in the gale, tying one end to another for a hasty fix. Underneath me I felt the ship level out, just in time for a wave to lift us up and leave me feeling weightless for a few seconds.

“I was waiting to see which one of you guppies would have the guts to come out ‘ere!”

I turned my head, and was utterly flabbergasted to see Captain Skorn perched on the topsail yard, smirking at me. His bright plumage was shadowed by the storm, but a bolt of lightning stabbing across the heavens illuminated him, setting his colors at odds with the environment. What remained however was the glint in his eyes, shining with both keen intellect and untamed madness.

“Captain!” I called out to him, the rain pelting me in face and threatening to peel me from my grip. “What in Hel are you doing out here?!”

He gave me a hearty, almost manic laugh,
“I cut a few lines to see how long it would take one of you riff-raff crew to get ’yer shivering’ flank out here to fix it! And low and behold! Only the greenhorn Sable Star what’s got the mettle to do it!”

He had severed the lines on purpose! Some insane crew drill in the middle of a storm that all but promised to obliterate us!

“YOU CUT THE LINES ON PURPOSE! YOU’RE INSANE!”

He leaped over towards me, where he could lean down from the beam to put his beak in my face.

“And don’t you bloody forget it lad!”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TWILIGHT’S CASTLE

Rarity and Twilight sat on the Princess’ s bed, cups of tea steaming beside them. A silence hung in the air, both wearing the faces of heavy consciences.

“I see what you’re saying Rarity, but I cannot let this go unpunished. Then there‘s the issue of trust, how do we ever put faith in him again?”

Rarity dipped her head to acknowledge the point, “I know he must be chastised somehow, but if we can give Discord a second chance, why not Wanderlust?”

“Well, we did have the Elements of Harmony to keep Discord in check.” Twilight said. “But… he did turn out to do the right thing… in the end eventually.”

“Whatever reason he did what he did to that colt, there must be an explanation. I understand we haven’t known him for long, but does he strike you as somepony who doesn’t know what he’s doing? That he would do that in front of us without good cause?”

“But what explanation could there be?” Twilight lamented, “What possible justification could he have for harming a-”

“Creature.” Rarity cut in, a new thought forming in her mind. “When he had the colt up against the wall, he didn’t call it a boy, he didn’t call it a child. He called it a creature.”

The notion spread into Twilight’s mind like a virus, a clue of surprising insinuation that they had all missed last night. “Why would Wanderlust call him a creature?” she spoke almost in a whisper. Her head jolted to face Rarity, “We need to talk to him now.”

But the conversation would have to wait.

An explosion rocked the castle, and Rarity squealed in fright. The tremor shook the room, both mares clinging to one another out of shock.

“What was that!” Twilight yelled. She jumped off the bed and quickly went over to the observation panel and gasped. The view of Wanderlust’s cell was obscured by dust for a few seconds, until it revealed he was gone. Where the window had been was replaced by a jagged opening with burn marks at the edges.
“He broke out!”

Rarity ran over to the door, pausing to speak over her shoulder. “He doesn‘t think we’ll trust him Twilight! We have to catch him!”

In a series of flashes, Twilight teleported next to Rarity, then took them both to the outside of the castle. They circled the grounds for any sign of which direction he had gone, but found nothing. Twilight and Rarity shared
“Where do you think he went?”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the storm had passed, or we had passed through it, the crew was on deck to inspect for anymore damage and to clean-up all the water. I was coiling a rope when Skorn passed by me, sparing a casual glance.
“That was some fine work up there lad.” He said to me, “A rare sight to see a pirate so selfless.”

“I’m still learning captain.” was my quick reply.

He strode over to the bow, where he gazed out over the vast dark see. The sky, now freed of the clouds, was alive with the stars and the lights of the cosmos. I didn’t recognize any of the constellations, being so far from the Crystal Mountains, but it was still a familiar sight to me.

I looked up to the moon, where to my puzzlement, there was now the shade of a unicorn across its surface. Was it some kind of message from Luna? I wondered, was she trying to call me back?

Skorn caught me staring, and called out to me. “Spend a lot of time with the night sky do ya?” he asked.

“Aye sir, they were always a source of comfort for me. A lot of nights I wish I could live again.”

“Them’s up there the work of that Alicorn, Luna. Mistress of the night and all that. Always wondered if she could look down from them blinking lights to see us all floatin’ around down ‘ere.”

I knew perfectly well she couldn’t do that, but she could come into our dreams. During my times with her I had actually learned how she surfed the astral plane to visit me, and though I couldn’t duplicate the ability, I could block it from entering. I knew she had tried to find me after my exile from Thule, despite it being treasonous to do so. But I couldn’t see her again, in life or in dream, knowing that we could never really be together. So I shut her out.
“Who knows.” I said. “Those Alicorn sisters have all kinds of strange powers.”

“Uh, that they do lad, that they do. But you gotta think, if she could, then she’d know a whole lot of secrets. She could spy on you like a thief in the night and you’d never even know it. *BRAK!*”

That gave me cause to wonder just what kind of secrets he was hiding.

“Reminds me of my poor late brother Gallic. We used to sail this ship, and marvel at the stars at night. I’ll never forget his last words.”

I approached to stand just behind him, “What were his last words?”

He raised a talon and cleared his throat, “BRAK! OH GAWD SKORN! WHY, WHY?! GAWWHWHH! He trailed off a bit after that, lot of throaty noises, couldn’t make it out.”

To say I was unnerved at that point was putting it lightly.

“A point about secrets comes to mind Sable Star, being that I know that ain’t ‘yer real name.”

I betrayed a hint of nervousness when I reflexively looked to see if any of the other crew could hear the conversation.

“Ha-ha! *BRAK!*” he laughed, using the tuft of feathers on his tail to tickle my nose.
“Don’t get ‘yer tail in a twist lad, ain’t a soul on this ship what cares what your given name is, who you used to be, or what you did on land. Out here, out on the open sea, you make your own story and decide what your legacy is.”

Skorn turned to me and put a wing tip on my shoulder. “Whatever pains or joys you left behind, they’re not who you are anymore.”

The Captain pushed past me a jumped onto a railing to address the crew.
“Come on Lads! don’t look so bloody sour! Sing! Sing, you brigands!”

As was often the case, I couldn’t wallow in my melancholy for long. Skorn himself then led us in a shanty.

Give it a listen to get the melody, not a read along

“Come all ye young sailors and listen to me,
I’ll sing you a song of the fish in the sea!

And it’s windy weather boys, stormy weather boys,
when the wind blows, we’re all together boys.
Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds blow,
A jolly southwester, boys, steady she goes!”

Salty Veins was next to lead the verse,

“Up jump the eel with his slippery tail,
Saying ‘damn your eyes Captain, it’s time to make sail!”

Now that the whole crew had been roused to melody, they all joined in for the chorus, filling the ship with the deep, gruff harmony only a collection of stallions can create.

“And it’s windy weather boys, stormy weather boys,
When the wind blows, we’re all together boys,
Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds blow,
A jolly southwester boys, steady she goes!”

Grey Skies leapt into the center of us all,
“Up jump the halibut, lies flat on his back!”
He flopped onto his back to play out his lyrics.
“He says, ‘Mister Captain, don’t step on me neck!”

“And it’s windy weather boys, stormy weather boys,
When the wind blows, we’re all together boys,
Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds blow,
A jolly nor’wester boys, steady she goes!”

As I watched them all enjoying themselves, Captain Skorn looking on and singing in the refrain, I ruminated on what he had said to me.

He was wrong, I thought. No matter where I go, no matter what I call myself, my past is as much a part of me as my flesh and blood. I can no more leave it behind than I can leave my soul. Celestia can exile me from my home, but she can’t take my soul away.

“Up jumps the crab with his six crooked legs,
‘if you want to play cribbage boys, I’ve got the pegs!”

The crew stopped to jeer a scrawny unicorn for his choice.
“A crab ain’t a fish, you moron!” I heard Salty Veins yell.

So my life as Sable Star was born on salt and wind. My life as Æclypse was obsolete, the pain of those lost to me a burden I longer had to bear. But in their place I gained a new identity on the Red Talon, a freedom rarely encountered by the well-kept pony folk of Equestria.

As I would learn however, some parts of your life you can’t just toss overboard, can’t just ignore, or gloss over. Whatever name others would call me, I would always know who I really was.

I would always be The Unforgiven.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Trixie! That’s what happened to Trixie!”

Sprinting along a slim path, Wanderlust knew he was heading into danger. It wasn’t the first time he had done so, and knowing his luck, it would be far from the last. But fear and peril could not prevent him from doing what needed to be done. He had come to Ponyville to see for himself that the guardians of Equestria were up to the task, and if he could do anything to help them fulfill that role, he would do that too.

If they’ve hurt Trixie I’ll never live it down! He thought.

Such was his desperation, that he’d blasted his way out of his cell, knowing the dagger that was slowly moving it’s edge towards Ponyville’s throat.

And such was his plan, that it would invite any sane pony to declare him mad. Wanderlust wasn’t just running into a dangerous place for a good reason, he was heading for the danger itself.

“Here I am!” He yelled out loud. “Come and get me!”

The trail ended in a clearing, thick with the pale grass, tall plants topped with fuzzy orbs up to his withers. His saddle bags, which would have been incredibly useful for what he intended to do, remained back at the castle. Better sense would dictate that he take with him more than just his gumption, time however was not on his side. Besides, his plan would work either way. Either Twilight and the others would come after him and see for themselves, or he would drag back proof to show them. What happened to him was of marginal importance, what mattered was getting the Element Bearers to act.

“I don’t have all night!”

No response from the shadows. Wanderlust grit his teeth, and stamped his forelegs.

“Get out here you cowards! What are you waiting for?!”

Still nothing, not a rustle, not a sound.

Exhaling through his nostrils, Wanderlust pursed his lips in resignation.

“Alright… I know what they’ll come for.”

He closed his eyes and let out a long slow breath, concentrating on his thoughts. For almost a minute he stood in the center of the glen, letting the breeze knock the tips of the plants against his body. His face twitched and his lip curled, wincing under some invisible source of pain.

Wanderlust took a breath but it choked on the way in. The crevice of the eyelids began to water, a single tear streaming down the side of his face before dropping onto a wavering blade of grass.

Off to his right, a bush moved. His ears and eyes swiveled towards the disturbance.

You can’t resist the bait can you?

Then came the snickering. It started low, emanating from the direction of the bush, then it spread out until it surrounded him. He could feel their eyes on him, watching, waiting for the chance to pounce. Wanderlust circled in place to try and gauge just how outnumbered he was.

“Ok…. I can do this…”

He took a stance, rooting himself to the ground. “Don’t keep me waiting! I ain’t going anywhere!”

The shadows around him came alive. Like somepony had flipped a switch, dozens of eyes appeared in the brush around him. Bright sky blue, he could tell they were huddled shoulder-to-shoulder together.

“Come on.” He said to himself, “I’m ready.”

One by one, they stepped into the moonlight, their large luminescent eyes gleaming. The rest of their bodies remained largely unseen other than where the light bounced off the chitin.

There had to be almost thirty of them.

Marauders
Liars
Parasites

Changelings.

Press play, keep reading

Wanderlust could tell by their subtle movements that they were going to attack.

He would not go peacefully.

His eyes narrowed and the Changelings launched themselves at him. Some buzzed over the short distance, others galloped, all of them snarling with fangs bared. Wanderlust’s horn ignited and sent a torrent of fire into the closest grouping, scattering them in a brilliant pyrotechnic explosion. This gave the creatures momentary pause, but confidence in their numbers and lust to feed overcame their caution.

Two of them made leaps for Wanderlust’s back, but were met with a left hind-leg buck that swept across their muzzles and sent them spiraling away. A Changeling tackled him around the belly from above and tried to pry him off the ground. Dropping his weight towards his chest, Wanderlust was able to mostly slide out of the hold, and drive his fore-hooves into its jaw.

It had been a long time since Wanderlust had been in such a ferocious battle, and as he hit the ground after being dropped, a small part of him reveled in the frenzy of combat.

Three more seized upon him as he came down on his back, clumsily trying to pull him in different directions. But he was able to yank one that was clutching to his foreleg across his chest and into another, knocking them both off. The last he buried his other hind-hoof into its nose. Before he could recover to stand, a cluster of plasmatic green blasts impacted him and the ground around, throwing him into the air from the force of the detonation.

Wanderlust hit the ground with a grunt, the air punched out of his lungs. He caught a Changeling diving for him in his magical grasp and tossed it away, but another wrapped its limbs around his head, wrestling him to keep him to the ground. A pair of perforated hooves landed in his belly, and Wanderlust would have cried out had he the breath to do so.

The Changeling above him raised up to deliver another blow, but when it came down, Wanderlust met them with his own hooves and pushed them away. The dark parasite rotated forward where a set of thick hooves were coiled and slammed into its face.

Rolling onto his feet, Wanderlust somersaulted forward and drove the Changeling clinging to his neck into the ground. He wanted to rest a moment to catch his breath, but his adversaries were not so considerate. Two of them grabbed his hind legs and buzzing a pony’s height above the ground, dragged him along to lob him into a thick tree trunk.

“Grahh!” He yelped, feeling his body bruise from the impact. They came up to pin him against the bark, but a plate of white magic shot out from his horn to drive them away. He slid back down the trunk and steadied himself on his hooves, preparing for another assault.

Twilight’s teleportation spell would be really handy right now! He yelled internally.

Sucking a gulp of air into his chest, Wanderlust strained to launch a fire stream at the oncoming creatures. The spell was a taxing one, and he had to use it sparingly and effectively, otherwise he’d be too magically exhausted to fight long enough to make it out of this. The beam was countered by an alliance of green magic that collided into it, where both sides were engulfed in a violent reaction.

Forced to shield his eyes from the magical embers and burning plant matter thrown out by the blast, he was too late to counter a flying headbutt that resulted in Wanderlust and the Changeling tumbling through the grass. He rose with an uppercut that lifted the drone off its hooves, and used his horn to parry an oncoming lunge from the black spike of another. Reaching a limb under it’s belly, Wanderlust lifted the changeling on his shoulder and brought it down on the head of a new assailant.

He was maybe halfway through what his original count was for their strength, but he could have missed a few in the darkness, or more were simply entering the fight. As he fought, countered, landed blows, and received blows, the gauntlet never seemed to end. A blast here and a right cross here kept them from overwhelming him, but there was always more coming, another set of glowing eyes.

A shot of their plasmatic magic struck him in the flank and knocked his hind legs out from under him. A drone pounced on him, but he managed to throw it into the path of the next green blast. Wanderlust painfully rolled to stand, but immediately had to leap aside to avoid two who tried to tackle him. He was tracking their turn-around when he tripped over the body of one he’d felled earlier. Falling on his side, he saw the stars above him blotted out by several Changeling converging on him.

Punches, bites, and points prods were his companions in the darkness, the blank glowing eyes of the Changelings staring down at him.

“AAAAHHHHH!”

With one great feral scream, Wanderlust set off a Omni-directional blast of concussive force that blew them all away.

Breathing heavily, he staggered to his hooves. “Is that that best you can do?!” He call out to them defiantly.

One Changeling, slightly larger than the others and decked in dark blue armor, stepped casually from among the crowd. From behind him, another three-dozen or so drones coming out of the shadowed bush to flanks him on either side. The armored Changeling did not speak, but simply smiled a fiendish fanged smile, as if to say “is this better?”

“I had to ask.” Wanderlust said with resignation.

“Take him down.” The commanding Changeling ordered in a flat, emotionless voice that nonetheless thrummed with their unique vocal chords.

“Alright,” Wanderlust thought to himself, “The drones follow their command structure religiously. If I take out that smug vermin, there’s a good chance the rest of ‘em will break ranks. I just have to get to him.”

As the Changeling reinforcements charged forward, Wanderlust steadily got up to a gallop to meet them head-on. Though his body was weary and bruised, it was the fuel of his memories that pushed him on. He remembered the last time he had seen Changelings, laughing at him, siphoning off of his love. For years he had endured their imprisonment, trapped helplessly in the pod, forced to watch as the city and every pony in it was enslaved.

But even all that was not the most potent, most enraging thought pushing his legs. It wasn’t what they had done to him that instilled within Wanderlust an eternal hatred for their race, it was what they had done to his family.

The tears coming to his eyes made him a beacon to the Changelings, but the war cry that preceded their collision made him a terror.

A final mustering of his fire spell tore into the drone ranks, and cut a path for him to plunge through towards the commander. When a drone would try to seize him, he would deflect them with a shoulder-check or magical toss. Several of them formed a line in front of their commander, and fired a volley of their green magical fire. Scooping up a length of earth, Wanderlust used it to shield himself from the attack.

The dirt crumbled away under the blasts, but it had done it’s work, and Wanderlust was not but two seconds away from the leader. Only the final defensive line separated them.

The Changelings crammed together, and Wanderlust crashed into them with all his momentum. He could have used his magic to clear them, but he would need all his power to deliver the decisive blow.

Despite the weight of their collective bodies, when Wanderlust slammed into them, the Changelings’ inertia buckled. With fangs biting into his neck and the limbs of his adversaries closing around him, the dark unicorn struck his head through their blockade, his horn alight for one last effort.

But before Wanderlust could fire the shot, his eyes shot open in shock. Standing before him was not the sneering Changeling commander, but Trixie, bound-up and terrified.
“Wait!” She screamed, flinching away from his wrath.

Wanderlust’s hesitation was his undoing, for in the next instant, a mighty blast of green magic from Trixie’s horn hit him in the face point-blank.

The drone soldiers collapsed under Wanderlust, who lay unconscious. Trixie, stared down at him with passive interest. Her body was immolated in green flame, and the true form of the armored commander was revealed.
“Quite a catch you were. I don’t recall a quarry ever being so… capable.”

His eyes leveled out to gaze over the plain, where the bodies of his soldiers lay strewn across the battlefield. A drone limped over to him, offering a salute.
“Shall we transport him to the main hive, General Varus?”

“No.” Varus said with a lingering thought on his mind. “This one is unlike the others. Did you feel the love radiating from him? He deserves some… special attention.”

The guards covered Wanderlust in their magic, wrapping him in their sickly green mucus.

Varus turned away from the clearing. “Recover our fallen and take them to the healing pods. And take him to the main colony, I intend to show Crassus and Magna that I am her favorite for a reason.”

He chuckled slightly, “I will present him as a gift to our Queen Mother.”