Fairlight - The Frozen Heart

by Bluespectre

Chapter Four - Princess of the night

CHAPTER FOUR

Princess of the night

Somepony was wiping my muzzle with a damp cloth by the feel of it, the slightly rough texture and cooling sensation quite soothing to my sweat soaked hide. By the gods, what a nightmare! Part of me could still ‘feel’ the heat scorching my me, the smell of burning hair filling my nostrils. I took a deep breath and let out a low groan. I was aching all over, from the tips of my ears to the dock of my tail, and had the horrible dilemma of wanting to go back to sleep or wake up fully. Considering what was likely waiting for me back in the dream world, I opted for the latter. Wearily I opened my heavy eyelids to see the first rays of the sun edging over the hilltop. The land was still heavy in shadow, awaiting the warming light of day. I could almost sense the anticipation in the air, and yet there was still a tiny part of me that longed for the night sky, that magnificent blanket of velvet darkness lit with stars, twinkling like diamonds amidst the pale light of the moon. It was simultaneously conflicting and unsettling, a strangers memories conflicting with my own. In some respects you could liken it to that of reading a book, or watching a play. You may remember the story, the characters, but normally one would simply reach the end of the telling and then simply return to their normal life. The names, places, and general storyline may stay with you for some time afterwards of course, but eventually you would forget most of it and the story would simply fade into the background as no more than a pleasant recollection. This was something similar, and yet at the same time it was so alien to me I had trouble reconciling what was going on. The memories were so real, so tangible: my wife, my son, my people, the war - it had all happened. I could feel it with all my senses as though it had been myself experiencing it all, and yet I knew it had happened to somepony else. This... Maroc, the ‘Lord of the wendigo’, had died a thousand years ago. Goddess knows how, but I had ‘been’ him for a time, and somehow he and I had merged, if only for a brief time. In actual fact though I suspected I had been more of a passenger in his memories than having any actual control over the situation, but regardless of what the reality was behind it all, my experience had felt exactly that - real.

“Cap’? You okay? Can you speak?” Tingles’ voice was full of concern. She was stood next to me, a damp cloth her hooves.

I smiled at her. She was a good friend. “Thanks Tingles,” I replied, licking my dry lips. “That was… pretty intense.”

She nodded, continuing to wipe around my muzzle gently. “You’re not kidding! You scared the crap out of me back there, I thought you were…” She trailed off.

“I was what?” I asked curiously.

Tingles closed her eyes, her ears flattening for a moment. She didn’t want to say but I had no idea what had happened whilst I’d been-

“I thought you were going to kill me!” the tangerine mare blurted suddenly. “Pewter barely missed being blown to pieces by some magic beam from your horn, and I had to dive for cover behind a tree!”

What could I say? ‘Sorry’? I’d nearly killed my auntie and my partner? I hung my head and turned away. I couldn’t look her in the face. “Tingles…” I muttered. “I didn’t know, I... I wasn’t myself. I’d never want to hurt you, or Auntie… Great goddesses, I’m a… a monster.”

Aunt Pewter held a bowl of cherries under my nose. “You’re not a ‘monster’ you silly young fool, you’re simply untrained that’s all, like a foal with no schooling.”

Yeah right, a foal that could blast a pony to pieces and kill a dragon. I think the parents committee might have something to say about sending their foals to a school with somepony like that in the classroom! I took a mouthful of the berries, feeling the magic seeping into me. It wasn’t much, like trying to fill a bath from a dripping tap. But it was something, and it quenched a thirst for more than water.

“Tell me,” Pewter began. “What did you see?”

I glanced at Tingles who moved in even closer. I could smell her breath; she had been eating something with rosemary in it, and my stomach grumbled in response. She chuckled and fished out a couple of savoury cakes from the saddle pack pile. Greedily, I wolfed them down like a starved pony. “There was a battle,” I told her between mouthfuls of the cake, “I know it sounds weird, but it was like I was there, living it all in the body of a wendigo.”

“Yes?” Auntie asked, sounding a little impatient.

“His wife was killed during battle,” I continued. I decided to try and keep it short, remembering my training in the watch. It would also go some way to avoid having to remember the more gruesome parts of the story. “Their leader was an alicorn, Nightmare Moon I think, but we all know what happened to her. She was defeated by Celestia and her army routed. They fled the field, scattering in all directions, but the one I inhabited raced back to a fortress in the mountains to try and save his son. The Celestians attacked them in the mountain pass when they tried to escape. The last thing I remember is Celestia incinerating me… or rather, him.”

Tingles gasped in surprise. I suppose that the thought of our ‘benevolent ruler’ incinerating anypony, let alone a foal, went against all she knew. Bloody hell, it went against everything I ‘knew’ about her too. Guess I missed that class as well then.

“What was his name, Fairlight,” Pewter asked. “The father of the child, the one you inhabited?”

I licked a crumb from my hoof and selected another cake. “Maroc,” I replied. “Lord Maroc.”

She looked away thoughtfully, scratching her muzzle. Without looking back she asked, “Was his wife called Arathea by any chance?”

I nodded, “Yes! How did you-”

But Pewter cut in, “What was the name of the child?”

I answered quickly, trying not to dwell on the still raw emotions regarding him. “Vela. He was a small grey unicorn foal. He was given to another of the warriors to try to get him out of the pass, but he was caught in the dragon’s fire before he reached the caverns.”

“You saw this?” Pewter asked. “How can you be sure?”

I looked up at her and fixed the inquisitive mare with a hard stare. “I heard the child calling for his father just as the pass was deluged in fire. Is that not enough, Auntie? Lord Maroc believed his son to be dead and attacked Celestia, certain her forces had murdered him. But whether he’d survived the fire or not wouldn’t have mattered anyway. She’d already given the order to kill all the survivors.”

Tingles rose to her hooves, tears welling in her eyes. “NO! Goddesses Fairlight, the princess would never do such a thing! She loves her subject, especially children!” The tangerine mare choked back a sob. “She loves us! How could you say this, these… these lies?!”

“I saw what I saw, Tingles,” I replied levelly. “I don’t know whether it was all a dream or what, but if it was true, then… Well, let’s just say that perhaps good old Princess Celestia has a side to her she doesn’t want ponies to see. I’m sure she isn’t the only member of a royal household to have a few skeletons in the closet, that lot are always bumping each other off like it’s going out of fashion. After all, what’s a genocide or two between friends, eh?”

Aunt Pewter spoke up, “Nephew, what you experienced was something nopony has seen in over a thousand years. It was the last battle between the princesses - the battle, ultimately, between night and day. The wendigo you experienced was the Lord of the tribe of the Four Winds, Maroc, husband to Arathea and father to their son, Vela. History speaks of the battle at River Valley, and how Nightmare Moon was struck down and exiled. But the annihilation of her forces is one seldom mentioned, and-”

“Annihilation?” Tingles stepped in, her mane bristling in outrage. I’d never seen her so angry, and right now she was radiating outrage in waves. “You’re talking about genocide!” she roared. “Do you seriously thing the princess of the sun would murder foals, Fairlight? For the goddesses’ sake, you swore an oath to uphold the laws of the both Luna and Celestia! Was there anything in there about massacring innocent children? Bloody hell, you can’t seriously believe all this crap, can you?”

Pewter fixed Tingles with a look that could have nailed any less of a pony to the wall. “As I was trying to say,” she said calmly, “I would stake my life on the fact that the crap foals are taught in schools now is nothing like the truth of our history.” She narrowed her eyes, “What you have been told is a lie, girl, a façade, just like your precious murdering bitch princess!”

The tangerine mare took on a fighting stance and flattened her ears, “Shut the buck up, you vicious old hag! How would you know anything about the princess? You weren’t there! None of us were!” Tingles motioned towards me, “Captain, it’s a trick, all of this, this… bullshit! She’s bucking with your mind with her crazy witchcraft. Come on, lets get the hell out of here. I don’t want to hear another of her vile words against our princess!” She stared hatred at the old grey unicorn. “I don’t know what you hope to achieve by filling his mind with this shite, Pewter, but I’m taking him with me.”

Tingles advanced, trying to put herself between my aunt and I. But the elderly grey mare stood her ground, her eyes locked with her adversary as she addressed me, “Nephew, you are the one who must decide whether to stay or go. I won’t try to influence your decision, but decide you must.”

My vision was immediately filled with the expectant stares of two mares, both wanting me to make a decision. But really, I already had. This creature, this spirit or whatever it was, was a part of me whether I liked it or not. My friend and partner would have to understand that. “Tingles,” I began, “I have to see this through. I’m no good to Equestria if this thing takes hold of me. I need my aunt’s help, can’t you see that?” I tried to reason with her, but it was to no avail. I could almost hear her heart breaking.

“You… You believe her?” The tangerine mare’s eyes shone with tears. “These mirages, those conjured memories she put in your head with her magic? Cap’, please… please, just… come home with me. Please…”

My ears drooped, “I’m sorry, Tingles. I wish I could but you have to understand…”

I didn’t get a chance to finish. With a blast of air, the broken hearted mare rocketed skyward and vanished into the morning sunlight. Tiny twinkles of glistening light streamed behind her - the tears brought about by the betrayal of my friend. Damn it all to hell, what in the world was I doing here anyway, stuck in a clearing on a goddess forsaken hillside? Why couldn’t things just work out for once, eh? Just for bucking once?! Straining against the sunlight there was no chance of following her flight path now. And even if I could, what was the point? Suddenly I hadn’t realised I’d been holding in my breath and released it in a rush. “I’m sorry Tingles,” I murmured.

Aunt Pewter picked up the saddle packs and placed them on my back. “She’ll be back, Nephew, never fear,” she said calmly. “She’s just upset at the moment. Celestia’s children are never encouraged to see reality for what it really is, so you can’t really blame her. Goddess knows, in some ways I wish she’d been right.”

Well that was a surprise. Normally the old bugger hated Celestia with a passion. Was she finally warming up to her? No, of course not, auntie was too set in her ways for that, but she was knowledgeable and that was what I needed now. Now fully laden, we set off down the track back to the cabin, Pewter being especially careful of her footing and trying to avoid the low branches. She came alongside me and spoke in a low voice, a tone that struck me as quite different from her usual curt manner. It was almost as if she were addressing an equal.

“I suppose you want to know whether you can get rid of this thing don’t you,” she said.

I nodded, “Yes, Auntie”

Pewter nodded, knowingly. “Hmm, I thought so. Well, maybe at first you could have, but not now. The spirit has become a part of your soul. Like a drop of paint mixing into a tin of another colour, the two become inseparable. I can’t give you much help to control the spirit Fairlight, the old goat was right about that at least, but I can tell you what I know so that you may better understand what you need to do.” I listened as the mare continued to explain, “Not all the lord’s people died that day. In nearly every disaster, there is at least one survivor. The one who ran farther, that was able to run faster than the others, or could simply hide better. Who can say? But one such survivor did indeed survive. He found and rescued some of the books and scrolls from the ruins of the library, before the Celestians razed the last of the fortress to the ground.” She sighed. “When I think of how much knowledge was lost… Such an act of sacrilege. Anyway, the books were passed down from generation to generation until they finally reached myself. I have no further descendants, Fairlight, so when I die, the books pass to you.”

I shook my mane. It was beginning to make some sense, “But why auntie? Why me? Passed down I can understand, but are you saying we’re descended from the pony who rescued the books?”

“That’s precisely what I’m saying,” she replied, “The pony who recovered the books was called Herath. He was-”

“WAIT!” I nearly shouted, stopping Pewter in her tracks. “Say that name again.”

“Herath?” she replied a little surprised my reaction. “He was the one who found the books.”

“He was the one who took the Lord’s son to safety!” I exclaimed. “I thought he was dead. Maroc thought he was dead. My goddesses, Auntie, don’t you see what this means?”

“Vela survived…” she whispered.

I nodded. “Yes!”

Aunt Pewter stayed silent for a while, magicking out her long clay pipe. After expertly loading it, she held it in her teeth and I conjured a flickering flame for her to light the tobacco. We had come to a halt under some trees and I could just make out the cottage some ways below us. It wouldn’t take long to get back at a normal pace, but my aunt was no young filly. Taking a deep mouthful of the smoke, she exhaled luxuriously, “What did you notice of the wendigo, Fairlight? Their world, their people.”

I scratched my head, plopping down on my haunches to get comfy. “I didn’t get to see a lot to be honest. Other than the battle it was mostly running and fighting. The wendigo I came across all looked the same pretty much, like me when I, um… change,” I explained. Pewter nodded as I continued. “Most of the ones I saw weren’t even wendigo at all, they were just normal unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi - even some griffins I think. The Lord’s son was a pony though, and he kind of looked like...” I turned to face Aunt Pewter. Her eyes were slightly dulled with age, but still a rich yellow. Like mine her grey coat was a dark grey, but faded slightly from her advancing years. Her mane was mostly grey now, but I remembered how it had been black when I was young, and like mine, was a family trait. In fact, now that I thought about it, it was like Vela’s, like Maroc’s butler, and so many of the ponies in the pass.” Realisation suddenly washed over me. “Auntie! The wendigo were all unicorns, and they all looked alike too; grey coats, black manes, tails, and yellow eyes like yours. Like me too, except that my eyes were brown before this thing latched onto me. What does all this mean then, are we all interbred or something?” The thought was like an ice pick through my brain. Was I the product of generations of inbreeding? I did a quick check of my legs - still four, thank Luna. Pewter saw me looking and slapped my foreleg.

“Don’t be disgusting, of course not,” she snorted. “Unicorns have always been magical creatures, Fairlight, but some of us strove to attain more, to be able to use the old magics, the creation magic from the beginning of the world. Many believed that it was a fruitless search and simply gave up, whilst others continued. But as part of that quest, they only married other unicorns to keep the chance of producing a talented unicorn foal as high as possible. At some point, one tribe found a way to commune with spirits from the plane we know as the Wither World.” I nodded, I knew that place all too well. Auntie continued, “They welcomed the spirits to them, communed with them, and finally, accepted them. They gladly shared their own spirits with those of the Wither World, allowing the wendigo to stay in the mortal realm in exchange for the use of their power. Over time the interaction between the spirits and the ponies produced an anomaly - the grey coat, black hair and yellow eyes of our ancestors. Why, I don’t know, and the books never mentioned anypony being interested in finding out either, only that it became a mark of honour, of identifying those who eventually became known as a tribe of warriors.” She leaned back and send a thin stream of smoke up into the trees. “The wendigo spirits would only enter those who they deemed worthy. There were many references to rituals and selections that an acolyte would need to pass before being selected. After all, to become a wendigo warrior was a great honour and privilege. The families and other members of the tribe occasionally brought in those from outside who sought to become one with the spirits, if they showed the right character and aptitude. Soon, they too would find themselves changing. But even then, only a few would become truly one with the spirits. These were marked with the blue eyes and lightning flash of the Wither World.” Aunt Pewter paused, taking another pull on her pipe and leaning back against a tree with a sigh. “I think you can piece together the rest, Nephew.”

I watched my unusual relative smoking her pipe, blowing the occasional smoke ring into the morning air of the woodland. “You, me, mum, we’re all descendants from that tribe, aren’t we,” I reasoned out. “Are you saying it’s not just the act of actually entering the Wither World which attracted one of the spirits to me, but that I was descended from this particular tribe of unicorns?”

She nodded, regarding me with her yellow eyes. “I believe so, but it’s possibly a bit of both. Unfortunately we don’t know what the old rituals were, nor how candidates were selected in the first place. Sadly, that text was not recovered.” She raised an eyebrow and peered into my eyes. “Fairlight, do you see now why you must never divulge your heritage to others? Especially to the… ‘princess’.”

“Bit late for that,” I replied. “Luna knows, and she leads Equus. Even as Celestia’s sister, surely she would be running a risk herself by hiding my identity, regardless of her desire for me to help Equestria.”

“Pah!” Auntie spat on the ground, “Luna is a child, no longer the great princess of the night she once was. Once lauded as the ‘goddess of the moon’, reduced to nought but a puppet of the puppet master herself, the white witch ‘Celestia’. I warn you, my nephew, do not put too much faith in the protection of the younger princess. If it came to a choice to either surrender you to her sister or defy her, which do you think she would choose?”

She was right. Luna loved her sister, of that there was no doubt. But even so, Celestia had still banished her for a thousand years. How would she react to her younger sister protecting a creature she had once used to challenge her rule? Especially a creature whose kind the princess of the sun had attempted the extermination of and, I suspected, believed she had succeeded in. I sat in silence for a while, listening to the birds and the clicking of insects amongst the trees. Aunt Pewter yawned and tapped out her pipe on a hoof before putting it back in a protective case. Watching her, I could see my own mother. She had the same grey coat, the same mane, even the eyes were the same. I missed her so much. Mum had never mentioned any of this to me. In some ways I wished she had, but I could also see why she’d kept it a secret. Despite all of this however, it was still not much more than an interesting lesson in my family’s history and lineage. Revealing it may be important historically, but I was potentially still at risk from this thing if I didn’t learn to control it somehow. My ancestors had obviously managed to do it though, and as a descendant of them, hopefully I’d inherited some ability to do so too. Otherwise… Damn it, I didn’t want to start thinking about it.

“Auntie?” I began.

She looked up at me, “Hmm?”

It was worth a shot. “Do you think there’s any chance any of the books, scrolls, or whatever they were, may have survived in the fortress after all this time?”

She gave me an odd look. “No. The white witch destroyed it completely. And before you try to go off on some insane quest to see for yourself, let me tell you now - it’s all gone.”

“Gone?” I asked curiously. “What, the whole fortress?”

Pewter sighed. “Reduce to rubble, Fairlight. I know because I tried looking for it when I was a lot younger and fitter than I am now. I can assure you there’s nothing in the mountains but rocks, boulders, fog, and that damnable forest which surrounds it all.”

Now that surprised me. I’d have never credited Pewter as the adventuring type at all. I suppose it just goes to show how little you can know of a pony, even when they’re members of your own family. “You searched for it?” I asked. “Why?”

“Because I was young and foolish, that’s why,” my aunt replied dismissively. “I had some romantic notion of finding more books to help me ‘regain the lost knowledge of the wendigo’, or some such foolishness. I nearly died from hypothermia, and my bladder’s never been right since either.” She gestured dramatically, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Ultimately I found... nothing. Not a damned thing.”

My brow furrowed in thought. “But… If you found nothing, then-”

“Because there was nothing left!” Pewter snapped. “That thrice cursed bitch princess destroyed every last trace, don’t you see? Damn it all, Fairlight, let it drop will you? There’s nothing there, and even if there was do you seriously think a book would survive in snow, ice, and soaking wet for a millennia? Of course not.”

I still couldn’t get my head around Celestia being this ‘bitch princess’ that Pewter despised so much. She appeared to have developed her hatred of her simply by reading the histories of the tribe from whom we were apparently descended. But I’d seen it first hoof, and as cruel as Celestia had been, the mare I had seen seemed so far removed from the princess who ruled us today they were like completely different creatures. What the hell had happened to her to make her like that? It didn’t bear thinking about. Whatever the truth of the matter, I didn’t want to foment a hatred of our princess based on something that happened a thousand years before I was born. I cleared my throat. “Auntie, how did you know about the destruction of the fortress. Was there a diary of some kind? Some clue left by Herath maybe?”

She nodded appreciatively. “Very perceptive of you. Yes, he left a diary of sorts, but not like you’re thinking. It was more of a note really, one explaining what had happened after the battle had ended and the end of the wendigo fortress. There was no mention of the child, only that the fortress had fallen, the books had been recovered, and that the bearer of the books should protect the memory of the tribe.”

“It’s a bit sad auntie, ‘protecting a memory’,” I reasoned. “It sounds to me like he’d given up on restoring the tribe, and I’d guess that he didn’t mention Vela in case somepony else found the books and note.”

Aunt Pewter sighed, “You can’t blame him for wanting ponies to give up on searching for the power the wendigo spirit can offer, can you? The princess would have hunted them down and slaughtered them to protect her precious utopia.”

“And Vela?” I queried.

“Dead long ago,” Pewter shrugged. “Whether in the pass or rescued by Herath, who can say. You and I could well be their great, great, great whatever grandfoals. What’s it really matter? It doesn’t change anything.”

“So what does matter auntie?” I asked. “This knowledge is interesting, sure, but ultimately it’s totally worthless. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”

She shook her head, “Knowledge is never worthless, Fairlight, you just don’t see the whole picture yet. I know it’s an old cliché, but you can’t build a house without foundations or else the whole structure will be weakened. Know your past, and use it to help better understand who you are. Whether you are a descendant of Maroc, Herath, Vela, or whoever, it doesn’t change who you are now.” Pewter clopped me on the shoulder, “You really do remind you of my sister, you know. She was a pain in the arse as well.”

That was the end of that conversation! Thankfully we soon reached the bottom of the hill and passed from the shade into the full sunshine of another glorious Equestrian day. The blessed warmth of the sun on my coat was blissful, and I felt like having a good roll in the grass. Damn it, I would too! “Auntie?” I asked, a foalish grin on my face. “Would you have any objection to me…?”

She chuckled and shook her mane, picking up the saddle bags in her magic and trotted to her door. Watching her go, I had a quick look round before flopping down onto the ground and rolling, covering both sides liberally in loose dry grass and goodness knows what else. Oh gods, it felt fantastic! Ponies didn’t like others to see them do this of course, and adults were meant to frown upon it, but how could you turn your nose up at something so deliciously natural? Tension and stress, knotted muscles and months of fear and misery, disappeared in that simple and unrestrained act of sheer indulgence. Some small grassy particles got stuck in my nose, but I soon blew them out with a good old snort, resting on my back with my forelegs facing skyward. The blue heavens above me were dotted with wispy white clouds that made me think back to my time with Meadow, Shadow and Sparrow in the room that was not a room. It had been a doorway to the land of the eternal herd, the world of golden wheat, laden fruit trees, blue sky and the sun on your back. I had some of that here, except for the company of a loving mare. Or ‘mares’ for that matter. I thought of Sparrow Song, my little foal. Her buzzing wings were not strong enough to hold her weight yet, but I so wanted to see her first flight. With time being different between here, the eternal herd and the withers, it could be years before she saw me next. Or moments. Goddesses, I didn’t want to think of this now, but one way or another she would see her father again. I would see my wife again and my Shadow too. All of us would be together. I wasn’t sure how, but I would make it happen somehow - this wendigo thing had to be good for something. Mind you, considering Thalio and his pals said I couldn’t enter the herd, how was it that I’d been able to spend time there with Meadow and Shadow? She was a thestral, I a wendigo, so how did that work out? Interesting. Apparently things weren’t quite as clear cut as they had initially appeared then. Which also meant that as much as I may tend to lean towards the negative in my world view, there was definitely some degree of hope.

In the midday sunlight I could feel my heartbeat slowing as my eyes began to close. Just a few minutes... I’d just rest my eyes for a bit and then I’d wake up to find Tingles back and Auntie fussing with a batch of tasty provisions for our trip back. I had to be back at work in two days, so I couldn’t delay too long. I yawned. Luna, it was so warm…

********************

The crystal trees shone and glittered in the peculiar half-light, the grass bowing with that strange breeze which would occasionally grace the Beyond with its presence. I sniffed at the air, my ears swivelling, trying to get my bearings. I could hear something on the edge of my hearing. Was that somepony crying? Straining my senses until I thought they’d snap I finally picked up a smell, the faint scent of… cinnamon? Yes, definitely cinnamon, or something very similar. It was a warm, spicy scent I had begun to associate with… “Shadow!” I broke into a gallop, something I should never do without warming my limbs up first, but to hell with it, she was near, I knew it!

The crying was louder now, a longing, plaintive sound that drew me nearer, the smell itself dancing around my muzzle. My mind was lost in my desire to find my mate, my Shadow, but where was she? As near as she sounded she was still so far away and I wasn’t making any headway no matter how fast I ran. Goddess damn me, where the buck was she? I ran on and on, up one hill and down another, darting between trees in my onward charge. But then, I caught a glimpse. There, standing amongst the crystal trees, I saw her. The black coated mare, her long midnight mane and tail flowing out behind her, saw me at the same time I saw her. Her eyes caught mine, flaring red like burning forge fires.

She called out to me, “Fairlight!”

“Shadow!” I called, “I’m coming love. Stay there, I’m coming…”

But no matter how near I came, she was as far away as ever, still calling to me over and over again. I was desperate, my heart thundering, lungs bursting, this place was bucking with me and I wouldn’t let it win, I couldn’t let it win!Suddenly the ground below me gave way and I plunged muzzle first down into a gully, rocks, gravel and soil cascading down with me as I fell. Frantically I called on my watch training and pulled in my legs and head to protect them from breaks. It wouldn’t help much if I slammed into a boulder, but it was the best hope I had. Faster and faster I tumbled until, with a hide grating slide, I came to a grinding halt. Wasting no time, I shook myself off and was on my hooves again. Thank Luna, I was in one piece too. Surprisingly in one piece actually; everything was still attached and I had barely a scuff to show for my rather dramatic tumble. Surely I would have had at least some injury? Not that I was wishing one on myself of course.

A cry from above me grabbed my attention and I looked up to see something that froze my heart. It was Shadow, gripped in the talons of some monstrous... thing. Oh dear goddesses, no! It was the black war dragon! The thing from Maroc’s memories. The damned beast was still alive!

It laughed at me with its huge booming voice. Directed partly into my mind and ears, it rattled my very soul. “She is mine now, toothless pony. The female will make me a good mate.”

“Fairlight!” Shadow screamed, trying to escape the massive beast, “Fairlight!”

“Goddesses, no!” I impotently swore.

Reaching for the power, the calm, I called to it - my other self. I needed it now more than ever. I had to have the power to save her! There was no reply. Taking deep breaths and slowing my heartbeat normally worked, but now did absolutely nothing at all. The bitter chill of fear gripped my heart. The power was gone. Gone! Frantically, I scrabbled to find it, to try and find anything left behind I could use, but it was useless. I didn’t even sense its presence any more. Taking a step towards my beloved Shadow, the dragon simply laughed, and with a mighty beat of his wings took to the air and was little more than a dot on the horizon in seconds. I tried to follow, but my legs refused to obey me. What the hell was going on here? “Come on!” I shouted at myself. Was I paralysed with fear or something? Damn it all, I’d faced worse than that thing! “COME ON, DAMN YOU!”

Somepony answered. “You want her?”

I span round, my legs suddenly freed of whatever encumbered them, to face… I don’t know what it was. It was like me, but white coated, with a blue mane and a wreath of white mist around its hind quarters. The pony’s blue eyes burned with cold fire.

“You want her, this… thestral. She is your mate?” the creature asked.

He, it, whatever the hell it was, knew me, and I knew it. I’d never really seen myself as others saw me before, but I could see why Tingles’ reaction was initially one of fear. The thing was huge, the air freezing around it as it watched me.

“Yes,” I replied. “You know I do.”

A hissing laugh emanated from the wendigo, white smoke leaking from its maw. “Yes, I know your heart, mortal. I know your memories. I know your soul.”

“This is a dream isn’t it?” I asked.

It cocked its head on one side, regarding me before shaking its mane. “A dream? Yes. A window into another world? Yes.It is reality and myth combined.”

I wasn’t in the mood for cryptic answers. “What do you want spirit?”

“What do you want pony?” it hissed, baring its teeth.

I stood my ground and lifted my head, “I want the power to rescue Shadow from the Wither World. I want the power to help Equestria. That, spirit, is what I want.”

“There is a price pony.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” it laughed ominously. “I may share my power with you, for we are already one… If divided. But there is a cost to any transaction, is there not?”

I cringed inside. What the hell did that mean? “Let me guess, you want to live in the mortal realm.”

I was right on the money. “Yes,” the wendigo replied. “I want to experience what you feel: light, breath, warmth, love. So… hungry.”

“I’m not killing ponies for you to feed on spirit, do you understand me?” I said firmly.

It laughed, “But you already have pony, have you not? Taking the life energy of one who is dead hurts nopony. Their soul has already moved on.”

“But I’d still need to kill in order to gain that energy!” I said feeling exasperated. “The berries give you energy, so why not-”

“THE BERRIES?” The wendigo lowered its front hooves and sent a roiling blast of white mist out to swirl around both of our hooves. “You would starve me! Starve us! We are hungry, pony, always so hungry. If we do not feed, then we will die, and who would save your mate then?”

The thing was right. No matter how many of the berries I ate, there was always that feeling of emptiness, of needing to feed. Was this why the tribe of wendigo warriors were so warlike? So they could feed their spirit through their love of conflict?

Its ears perked up suddenly, those blue eyes burning into mine with a bright intensity. “The orange mare…”it hissed. “She offered herself to you. She would help fill us. So young… So full of life…” Thick, glistening white mist oozed from between the spirits lethally sharp teeth, dripping to the ground. The damned thing was salivating! Feeling a dampness on my muzzle I was horrified to find that I was too. Dear gods, I was actually thinking about draining Tingles’ life from her, and enjoying the thought of it!

“NO!” I shouted at it. “I will not do that, she’s my friend. You, I… Damn it all, doing that could kill her!”

The wendigo spirit seemed perplexed by my statement as it asked, “Are you not hungry brother? Your eyes dim and your coat lacks its sheen. You must feed or you will wither and die. Has she not offered herself to you,? Take her, take what she gives freely.”

“I said NO, damn you!” I snapped. “Let me out of this bucking nightmare now, spirit. You can’t make me your damned puppet!”

The spirit chuckled, and in a different voice, one I had heard before somewhere, spoke. “Like you have a choice, my friend.”

*****************

Auntie was already packing my saddle bags with a flask and sandwiches for the return journey when I walked through the doorway rubbing my bleary eyes. She nodded to me and disappeared into the kitchen, returning momentarily with a parcel wrapped in paper and string. “That old hat and coat of yours,” she said, “and something else too you might like.”

She floated the package over and I immediately recognised what else was in there. “Dad’s old truncheon!” I exclaimed.

“Found it with some of your other things in the house,” Pewter replied solemnly. “I wouldn’t recommend going back there, but if you do, take this with you.” She threw me a small bottle of shimmering white liquid. At my puzzled glance the grey mare explained, “A little something I concocted to help your father. It creates a dampening effect around you, lightens your hoofsteps and eliminates any odours that may give you away. Ponies have big nosies, remember?”

We both laughed; it was a classic line from more care free days. When mum was at work she would sometimes leave me with her sister, and Pewter and I would happily while away the hours playing or reading until she got back. I’d like to think she’d enjoyed spending that time with me as much as I had with her. Pewter had never had foals of her own. I never knew why, nor had I asked either. As a child at the time it was simply the way things were. She would plop me on her knee and hold her forelegs out to each side, with me balanced there. Together we would say, “Ponies have big….” And she would grab my muzzle in her hooves, shouting “...nosies!” making me fall about hysterically. I loved Auntie, despite her weird ways. After today I would probably not see her again for a while. I really should make the time to visit more often.

Aunt Pewter passed me my saddle bags and kissed my muzzle, “You’re going now aren’t you.” She said as a statement rather than a question, but I could see a shadow of sadness ghosting across her face. “You could stay you know. You don’t owe these Celestians anything, Fairlight. You know that.”

I hung my head, “I know, Auntie, but as much as I love you, I don’t always agree with you. Equestria is my home, and Luna has asked for my help. Without her I don’t know what would have happened to me. I have my honour to uphold, and I have to find Shadow. Whether I like it or not, the agency are my best hope of getting her back.”

She just smiled, quietly adjusting my pack. “I pray you get her back, Fairlight, I really do.” Pewter shook her head sadly. “I wish you mother could see you now. Tulip died too young. Far too young. You are her legacy, my nephew. For all we know, you could be the last of our tribe. So, you make sure you live your life to the fullest, enjoy every second of it, but don’t forget your roots, and who you are. You are loved, my little grey foal. Always remember that.”

I smiled at her and gave her a nuzzle. “Farewell, Auntie. I love you.”

With a final hug I headed out the door, closing it behind me. I half expected Tingles to be there, but the sky chariot sat empty. The cargo compartment held my parcel which I removed and placed in my pack. It was heavier than I would have liked, but I had a strong back and could just about cope. Gods, if I could manage all that baggage I’d lugged up the hill, then this was the least of my problems! Still, onward and upward. My first order of business was to find a flyer, and the village taxi office was just the place. A short trot later and the small wagon shed with its crude work shed next to it came into view.

“Hey!” I called out, “Anypony home?”

“Hello?” A yellow jacket wearing stallion poked his head out from under a carriage, his muzzle covered in grease. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah. I’m looking for a cab to Manehattan,” I said, plopping my packs down for a moment. “You taking fares today?”

“Sure!” The pegasus pulled himself out from his work place and wiped his hooves on a cloth that only seemed to add to the dirt. “Just you?”

“Just me,” I smiled.

“You’re old Pewter’s son, aren’t you?” the pegasus asked pleasantly. “Been to visit?”

I nodded. “Nephew actually. And yeah, I called round to see her. Been away for quite a while.”

“I’ll say!” the cabbie replied. “Last time I saw you, you were just a nipper, no taller than my fetlocks!” He walked over and went to shake my hoof, paused, and put it down when he noticed the big blob of grease. “Glow Bug’s the name.”

“Fairlight,” I replied politely. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Glow Bug glanced up at the sky. “Going to be dark by the time we get there, you sure you don’t want to wait until morning?”

“I’m on leave,” I said honestly. “If I don’t get back in time my boss will give me a royal boot up the arse.”

The stallion laughed. “Say no more! You wait here while I clean up, and then we’ll get ourselves away. Won’t be a tick...”

He was right. Before I knew it we were sailing over the wide city scape I knew so well. Below us Manehattan was beginning to prepare for the evening, the yellow lights of the many homes across the city starting to appear even as the sun was barely setting. Soon the deep orange glow bathed the rooftops, sending the streets below into shadow, awaiting the lighting of the street lamps for the safety of its citizens. Watching them flicker and then burst into life was a sight I doubt I’d ever get tired of. Like the web of some giant magical spider, the roads criss-crossed the great city, illuminating a night-time world that was as busy as that of the day. I would have been down there once myself, walking the beat, stopping for a cup of java at the old coffee shop on the corner. Ha! I may even have enjoyed a doughnut or two as well.

The cabby called back over his shoulder, “Hey buddy, you sure ya wanna go there? I mean, it’s not the kinda place anypony would want to go late on, ya know?”

I nodded, shouting back, “Yeah, I’m sure. It’s not far from my home anyway.”

He shrugged and took us down in a looping descent before the sky taxi bumped to a halt. The thing jarred the bones in my backside and I was reminded of how spoilt I’d been with Tingles’ flying skills. Glow Bug tipped his cap to me, and with a few flaps of his wings quickly disappeared into the darkening sky. As if in response to my arrival, a series of ‘pinking’ sounds around me indicated the lights of the cemetery coming to life. Unlike its residents. The flags had been taken down since the last time I was here, and the graves had already developed a covering of grass rather than bare earth. Here and there, somepony had placed flowers on the graves of the watchponies, including a new one. I read the words and felt my heart grow cold. There was no doubt about it now, was there? No matter how much I wished it could have been otherwise, the harsh reality of my friend’s final resting place in this unforgiving world was staring me in the face for the whole of Equestria to see. With a heavy heart I walked over to the marker and ran my hoof over the cold stone before plopping myself back on my haunches.

“I’m sorry, Chief,” I said quietly. “I should have tried harder. It’s my fault you’re here...” I drew a breath and closed my eyes. “I never had the chance to thank you for everything you’ve done for me over the years. All the times you’ve pulled my fat out of the fire, the way you’d pull me up when I was down, and how you guided me in the right direction ever since that day I first walked through the doors of that run down old watch house. You were like another father to me. More even. When dad left home you were the one that I looked up to as not only a leader, but as a mentor, and I was proud to call you my friend. I know it’s too late, but… thanks.” I hung my head and felt the emotion washing through me. In my mind I imagined him standing there beside me, his large presence reassuring me and listening to my woes the way he had done so many time before. “I need you, my old friend,” I whispered. “I need your wisdom and guidance now more than ever.” But the only sound was the wind sighing through the silent expanse of the dead.

My foray into the forest to collect berries had also yielded an attractive bunch of marigolds. Thankfully they were still fresh, if a little bashed about from being stuffed in my panniers. I knew Mitre liked them from when I’d overheard his conversation in the office with Shelly one day. Well, it was more of an argument really I suppose, but that was their life, and they’d been happy in their own way. Personally I couldn’t stand marigolds. Far too bitter for my taste buds to handle. Still stiff from my journey in the sky taxi, I picked myself up and walked up the next few paths until I reached my destination - the grave of Chief Apple Pop. And next to his…

Meadow

Beloved wife of Watch Captain Fairlight

Rest in Peace

I closed my eyes against the tears which had begun to trickle down my cheeks unbidden. Dear goddesses, it didn’t seem real. It was a dream I would wake up from at any moment, and yet no matter how much I prayed, it was still there every time I opened my eyes. But of course it would be. What else did I expect? I knew she would be here, with her family. And next to hers was another marker. I made out the inscription in the last failing glow from the setting sun:

Watch Captain Fairlight

Beloved husband of Meadow

Rest in Peace

So simple and plain, wasn’t it. ‘Beloved husband’, ‘Beloved wife’. Your name on a bit of stone, your ashes in the ground beneath a scattering of fancy pebbles, and that was you done, mate. You were gone, a pony’s life quite literally reduced to no more than a pile of ashes. Thank the goddesses that I knew we had the eternal herd, but even so, seeing it like this... My wife’s grave, my own grave. I was a dead pony looking at his own death. Hell, I was starting to give myself goose bumps. Anyway, it was time to do what I came here to do. Hauling off my heavy pack, I magicked out the stone I’d collected from Chips. It sparkled slightly in the sun’s warm light and I smiled to myself whilst placing the stone marker in front of Meadow’s. It was just right, the dimensions absolutely perfect. Chips was indeed a master craftspony. The letters were gentle yet bold, clear and not at all intrusive. Running my hoof gently over the marker, I read the words out loud, “Sparrow Song. Beloved daughter of Meadow and Fairlight. Sleep well, little one.”

That was all it took. The tears I had tried to hold back broke forth, and I lay down over the final resting place of my wife and child, my body racked with grief. I dug my hooves into the ground, willing myself to be with them, to hold them one last time. Goddesses, I didn’t want to be in this world too long, but Shadow… Shadow was my anchor here. Meadow knew that too, and I wondered if it was partly why she’d approved of the thestral mare in the first place. My conflicting emotions were something I was still grappling with, but this, tonight, was a step to accepting my past. Even if it did feel like my heart was dying in my chest.

“Well, well, well!”

I looked up to see a dark shadowy figure standing some yards away from me.

“Well, well, well, well, well!”

I recognised the voice immediately. I’d always suspected there was something seriously wrong with the guy right from the very first moment I’d met him, and in fact I was amazed they’d paired me up with him at all. Personally I had the distinct impression his mental state had been on a razors edge for some time, and unfortunately, I’d been proved right. Now, oozing with borderline insanity, if he hadn’t tipped over the edge already, here he was. And somehow I doubted this was a social call.

Removing his sunglasses, Wist’s wide staring eyes shone, reflecting the white glow of the cemetery lights. “If it isn’t my old pal, Agent Nox. Or should I say ‘Fairlight’, ex-captain of the Manehattan Watch!” He span in place, rearing on his hind legs like some bizarre ballet dancer. “Come to bury your little wifey wifey?” He put a hoof to his mouth in mock surprise, “Oops! That’s right, you can’t can you? She’s already there.”

“Buck off Wist, I don’t give a damn what you have to say”, I growled.

Fast as lightning the unicorn stallion produced a PDW, and almost in the same instant a pulse of brilliant green light shot out, nicking my ear. I didn’t move, that bastard wasn’t going to frighten me no matter how crazy he was.

“Now that wasn’t very polite now was it, Chief?” Wist giggled. “Not very nice at all! No, no, no. We simply MUST have good manners at all times, isn’t that right, hmm?”

I had the distinct feeling Wist wasn’t talking about me, nor the agency for that matter. No. Something else was haunting this pony, and it wasn’t something I wanted to find out about either. Gods, what a place for him to show up! And how the hell did he know I was here anyway? But regardless of all that, I didn’t want this madness near my family. Meadow and Sparrow shouldn’t have to see this.

“Wist, what do you want?” I asked him levelly.

He cackled madly, like some cartoon villain. “Oh, we’re going to play a little game now, Noxie me boy, and when I hear something I don’t like… POW! You lose a body part. How d’ya like that, eh?”

For the first time I wished I’d brought my magical sidearm with me. My bull headedness may have cost me my life here tonight. Still, looking on the bright side they didn’t have far to take me for burial. Or was that re-burial? I took a deep breath and faced him. “You’re a big pony with a weapon in your hooves, Wist. Can’t abide the thought of losing, can you? Not to the new guy,” I said levelly.

The agency ponies eyes bulged, “You bucking twat! You bucking, bucking, TWAT! It’s your fault my career’s completely bucked! Everything was okay until YOU showed up, and then it’s all ‘Nox’ this, and ‘Nox’ that. It’s not even your real bloody name is it?! You’re a lie, Nox, a bucking fake!”

“So what’s it to be Wist?” I said smiling at him. “Going to show the world just how big of a stallion you are by gunning me down unarmed? Real tough pony, eh? Bet the girls love you…”

“SHUT UP!” he screamed at me. “You little bucker! You… No… Wait, here… here’s something for you.” He took out his second pistol and unloaded it, placing the weapon on the ground. He placed a single charger crystal next to it, all the while making insane giggling noises and talking to himself under his breath. Wist backed away until the pistol and crystal lay an equal distance between us. “You like the old westerns, Noxie?” he raved. “I’m going to give you a chance. You pick up the pistol, load it, and fire it. I’ll even holster mine for you to make it even, how’s that for you eh, new boy?”

“Goddesses, Wist, you call this fair?” I asked him. “What the hells gotten into you?” And then I suddenly realised what it was that had been itching at the back of my mind since he’d first appeared. The signs had been staring me in the face all along: The staring eyes, the chattering, the inability to keep a single train of thought for more than a few seconds. “Celestia’s mercy,” I breathed. “You’re a breeze addict.”

He screamed at me, foam flying from his muzzle. “What the buck do you know?! You don’t know what I’ve seen, what I’ve done! bome bucking kid tries to shoot me and you act all self righteous, like I’ve done something wrong!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Wist, you shot a foal in the face. In the bloody face! What sort of stallion does that?”

He stomped a hoof, holstering his pistol and threw back the corner of his coat. “Enough talk, Noxie, it’s time for you to die. Again!” Another round of manic giggling and he seemed to settle down. I eyed the pistol and its crystal. There was no chance of me getting to it, loading, and firing before Wist turned me into a colander.

His horn glowed, “On three, Noxie. One...”

I concentrated my magic, digging my hooves into the gravel ready to sprint. At the same time, I reached for the cold energy within me.

“Two...”

The spirit was hungry, aching for release, but even with its power I was too close. I’d have to try and dodge, buy myself time to embrace the spirit. Before me, Wist’s manic grin spread even wider.

“Three!”

I dropped and rolled, Wist’s first shot frying a portion of my mane and tail. The stink of burning hair which normally made me gag was the last thing on my mind. Just as I began to feel the wendigo spirit spreading through me, a second shot punched through my shoulder making me cry out in agony. The burning pain scalded through my brain, and I reflexively dropped my grip on the spirit. The acrid stench of burning flesh and hair filled the air. There was no missing it this time. Nor could he. The bastard had me.

“You know, Noxie,” he said kneeling down next to me, “you really should be saying ‘thank you’. After all, you do want to be with your wife again, don’t you?” He giggled, throwing his head back and taking a deep breath. “All good things come to an end they say. And now, so ends the magical journey of Fairlight the dead, but not quite dead, pony.” He levelled the pistol at my head.

“Buck you, Wist, you useless foal murdering shithead,” I spat at him.

He just smirked at me, the pistol pointing right… between… my eyes.

A scream of anger echoed across the cemetery, momentarily making Wist turn and face his perceived new threat. An orange pegasus flew in like an avenging angel, firing brilliant beams of green light at deranged stallion before me. He dodged them all. I don’t know if it was the drugs in his system or natural reflexes, but goddesses he was fast. And a good shot too. His second shot took the pegasus in the wing, a third hit them square in the chest. There was a scream and the newcomer crashed into the ground heavily. Wist laughed at the sight, nonchalantly blowing a wisp of smoke away from the end of his weapon. Only the smoke wouldn’t quite go away… He blew again, puzzlement etched on his face. He brushed at it with a hoof, finding it too was beginning to be wreathed in the wispy smoke. I think he knew then, for his movements slowed and he looked back over his shoulder, ears flat and eyes shrinking to pinpoints. He looked up at me, bathed in the blue light from my eyes.

“Good play, Chief,” he muttered.

In a rush of adrenalin, he blasted off three more shots from his pistol, each on target, each dissipated by the ethereal white fog surrounding my body. Wist tried to run, finding his hind legs frozen to the ground in a thick blue ice. Crying out, he pulled with a strength born of insanity and, sickeningly, his legs shattered, bursting into minute crystals of frozen bone, blood and sinew. The broken stallion crawled away whimpering, trying desperately to reload his PDW, but an outstretched hoof knocked it away effortlessly. Another pinned the stricken creature to the ground, fixing him there, gasping and crying. He struggled madly, the pistol’s crystals spilling out across the ground. The magic around his horn was flickering now, a sure sign he wouldn’t last long. I looked down at his body below me and my hunger flared with anticipation. I felt nothing for this creature. All I felt was anger, a white hot fury burning inside my heart. He had dared, DARED, to attack ME! But this wasn’t a pony, it was a thing, a worthless foal killing beast. No. Worse than a beast. A beast kills as means to survive, this creature killed only for pleasure. The pathetic mass before me was nothing more than a damned Celestian insect that needed eradicating. But first, he would provide me with what I needed from him. Oh yes, but… wait, the drugs - the fool was full of them. I couldn’t take the life energy directly or else risk contaminating myself. No, there was another way…

Wist lay before me, giggling manically. He was going to pay for his arrogance and I could see it in his eyes that he knew it too. My forelegs pinning his to the ground, I tucked my head down and unleashed a beam of blue fire, hotter than the sun, colder than the frozen wastes of Tartarus. Slowly, I brought my head up. Wists eyes went wide as the energy sliced into him. His shaking and cries thrilled me, the smell of his innards and the steam rising from the spilled entrails so enticing it was all I could do to stop myself plunging head long into them. The beam cut upwards, slowly, his gurgling shrieks an eroticism I felt throughout my entire body, setting my fur on edge. Wist’s heart beat before my eyes, and then, with a final shudder, it stopped. The unicorn’s last tortured breath escaped into the night air, his life energy beginning to seep out. Gently, I breathed in, my jaws opening ever so slightly - tasting. As hungry as I was I wouldn’t take in tainted energy, but… no… this one had been prepared just right. My tongue lolled out, lapping up the dead pony’s life essence, pulling it in, sucking it down, a deep satisfying nourishment that only seemed to make me hunger for more. Dear gods, I was still hungry. A gnawing need for sustenance howled through my veins, threatening to swamp my consciousness completely as the void inside me cried out to be filled. I saw the tangerine coated pegasus across the cemetery. She was still alive, but barely. She would make a fine second course. My maw began to salivate at the mere thought of tasting her essence. Fog wreathed me and my intended meal as I approached the prone pegasus. She looked so tender, so young, and full of... life. My teeth chattered loudly, not from cold, but from the building anticipation. I leaned down and snuffed the air around her. She had been shot by Wist’s pistol and needed urgent care or she would soon expire from her wounds. It wouldn’t be long to wait. Smoke from the heat of the blast still lingered around the entry wound where a small trickle of blood was seeping out and soaking into her fur. My tongue snaked out and took a taste. It was iron rich, and so… so good...

A pair of green eyes opened slowly. “Cap’? Captain... Fairlight…” The voice was little more than a whisper upon the cold breeze.

Tingles tried to stand, her legs shaking with the effort. My former watch colleague and partner, my friend, was... dying before my very eyes. But that was right, wasn’t it? I was going to take her life from her, to feed my hunger… “No…” I breathed, shaking my head. “NO!”

The spirit’s voice raged through me, furious at being challenged, “Fool! She has offered herself to you and you would refuse her? Take the pony’s life energy for your own. Fill the need within you, within us. We must feed!”

“To hell with you, demon,” I snarled. “This mare is my friend. Do you have any concept of what that means?”

The answer came. “No.”

I sensed hesitation, and pressed my advantage. “Of course not. To you, friendship is something you can use to your advantage so you can take what you want and leave behind nothing but death?Did your fellow spirits steal what they wanted from ponies, or did they join them? They became one with them, did they not? Is it not true that the spirits followed their hosts through all their trials in life?” It remained silent, brooding. “I will save this young mares life, and you will help me,” I stated firmly. “In exchange, we will seek sustenance elsewhere. If she is still willing, then perhaps-”

“Perhaps?!” The spirit was incensed. “This means NOTHING! You will destroy us both with your intransigent pony foolishness!”

“SILENCE! DO NOT DARE CHALLENGE ME,” I bellowed at it, surprising myself with the amount of force I was able to amass. My anger was rising rapidly now, the magic coursing through me, a raging fire of determination melding with the ice of the spirit. “I am no puppet of yours, spirit! You will obey me in this.”

I felt more than heard the quiet resignation from the spirit, tinged as it was with indignation and a feeling of... betrayal? It may not have said anything, but it was far from cowed. This wasn’t over. Not yet. But that would be a battle I could fight another day. Now though, I had more pressing concerns. And those concerns were fading before my very eyes. Tingles tried to speak, blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. Quietly, I knelt before her and lifted her head in my hooves, turning her face to mine. Her eyes glistened with a mix of both wonder and fear, taking in my burning blue gaze. She knew about Shadow. During my recollection of my time in the Wither World, I’d explained everything to Aunt Pewter. Tingles had been listening at the doorway to the kitchen, and had heard every word. The tangerine mare had known all about me, warts and all, but she had only fled when I refused her in favour of my aunt because of an disagreement over something that had happened over a thousand bloody years ago. As petty as it had seemed to me, to her it had meant a great deal more. Even so, she had come back, willing to throw her life away to save mine.

I closed my eyes and felt the magic respond to me. “Do you hear me spirit?” I rumbled. “If there is one thing I despise, it is ingratitude.”

The thing hissed at me from the recesses of my soul.

Tingles’ voice, little more than a whisper now, called to me, “Cap’?”

I leaned down to her, opening my maw slightly to release a syrupy dribble of silvery blue light into her mouth. Holding her so she wouldn’t spill any, my eyes surveyed her wound. As with Shadow when the lake serpent had ripped her open, Tingles’ wounds began to smoke in response to the magic coursing through, and she moaned pitifully. Suddenly she convulsed and her tongue lolled from the side of her mouth. I was losing. The magic wasn’t enough, damn it, I needed to do more. And quickly. Pulling her mouth open, I clamped mine over hers, breathing my life into her body. The spirit pined for its lost life energy, but it obeyed me nonetheless. Wasting no more time I poured my essence into the mare, sensing her life’s flame flicker and then burst back into a vibrant flame. Her wounds were closing quicker now, the vibrant light of life returning to her eyes, those big green eyes that matched her mane and tail so well.

A shudder ran through me, and I could feel my body weakening slightly. This was putting a strain on me that would take more than a few berries to put right. Wist’s life energy had been used up almost immediately, and now I was using my own. If I wasn’t careful I’d be knocking on the door of the herd a bit sooner than I’d expected. Slowing the flow of energy I pulled away from Tingles, feeling her strength flowing strongly once more. But as I went to stand she lunged forward, surprising me with her urgency. Her forelegs locked around my neck and she pulled me into a kiss, long and deep. Her soft, warm tongue tasting mine.

“Mmm,” she moaned, the heat emanating from her surprisingly intense against my muzzle.

I couldn’t withstand her advance. Weakness overtook me and my hind legs dumped my haunches onto the gravel. My need for sustenance was rapidly being replaced with a desperate desire for this pony, my loins aching with an urgency that was frightening in its ferocity. The emptiness inside me was not just from the wendigo’s incessant hunger, it was my own. I was… lonely. So horribly alone in this uncaring world that saw me as little more than a monster in the shape of a pony. Tingles knew who I was, maybe more than any other in this realm. And she was before me, here, now, and I only needed to reach out and…

I broke the kiss. Damn it all, I didn’t want to, and it was so hard. I wanted her it was true, but for my own selfish reasons: to sate my desires, to swim in the satiation of my aching heart. Goddesses, this was so wrong! But I wanted her so badly...

The green eyes looked up at me through long black lashes, “Fairlight?”

She reached up again for me, but coward that I am, I turned away. “I’m sorry, Tingles,” I said quietly. “It’s not… Please, not now. Forgive me…”

“Forgive you?” Tingles asked in surprise. “You save my life, and you ask me to forgive you? Captain Fairlight, I should apologise to you. I know how you feel about Meadow, and Shadow too. I’d hoped that somehow, maybe…” She laughed, “Stupid me, huh?”

I released my power, feeling the cold raw strength returning to another part of my being, as I became ‘me’ once more. I reached out my foreleg and drew her into a hug, “You’re not stupid, Tingles. I’m a fool, I always have been. I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have hugged her, goddesses knew I was no good with females, but she gave a little squeeze in return then stepped back, her eyes glistening. With a sniff she motioned to the carriage park, “Come on then, Cap’,” she smiled. “Let’s head home before we get in trouble for being late back.”

I gave her the best smile I could. It wasn’t much. My heart felt like lead, just like my hooves as I clambered into the chariot. The tangerine mare put her TED on and spoke into it, “Warlock, you receiving me?” I couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation. Mine was still stuffed in my jacket pocket, and I had the horrible feeling I’d parked my amble backside on it all the way to Manehattan. Tingles nodded, pausing to listen to the instructions coming through her ear-piece, “Yes, Sir, he’s here... Yes, Sir, sanitisation is required... Understood, Sir… Received.” She looked back over her shoulder, motioning towards Wist’s corpse. “They know he’s here, followed his PDW tracer. Clean up crew’s on the way now, and we’re to get back to base for a wash and brush up.” Tingles looked down at her coat where the PDW blast had hit her. “Hell of a trick you’ve got there.”

“Yeah...” I muttered. “Just don’t ask me to do it more than once, eh?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You got it. Right, come on then, let’s get ourselves back to the barn. I’ve got a chariot waiting round the corner, and I don’t know about you but I want a shower more than all salt in Llamalia.” She brushed at her chest and pulled a face. “I need wash the Wist off me. You too, I think.”

I refused to look back at the destroyed body of Wist. Celestia’s tits, what had I done? Had I needed to do all that to him - to kill him like that? In fact, had I needed to kill him at all? Hell fire, there must be some other way than… than this. But if there was, I had no idea what it was. Wishful thinking hadn’t saved Meadow and Sparrow. If I was fated to be the bringer of destruction to the enemies of this land, then I would do so to protect others, like Tingles, from harm. Gods, so much for non-lethal means.

Somewhere deep inside, I heard a sarcastic chuckle.

********************

We landed back at the facility and trotted to the showers after dropping off my belongings in my billet. I’d sort through them later when I could relax and appreciate them more. And speaking of appreciation, my nose began to twitched as we neared out destination. The smell of soap and warm steam emanating from the shower room was amazingly inviting, and I quickly stripped off my overcoat, collecting a basket of toiletries in the process. I could almost feel the warm water on my coat now and shivered slightly in anticipation. For a brief moment though, I paused. Tingles was uncharacteristically quiet, standing behind me the way she was. I turned round, but... she was nowhere to be seen! A twinge of guilt hit me; I was the cause of this, wasn’t I. She was hurt because of me. She’d nearly died because of me. Buck me ragged, I’d tried to take her life myself! Some partner I was. The attractive tangerine mare, my comrade from the watch, deserved so much more. I couldn’t risk losing another. To hell with ‘ponies shouldn’t be alone’, if anypony was going to be put at risk, it was me. Me! I thumped my hoof into the tiled wall in an attempt to try and lessen my disgust with myself. It didn’t help. I closed my eyes and sighed; this was a matter for later of course, but one I had to address, if for no other reason than my own sanity. Angrily I scrubbed myself all but raw to try make myself feel at least a little bit cleaner than I felt I had the right to be right then. But there some are stains that just won’t come out, no matter how much you scrub.

Warlock was in his office shuffling paperwork when I knocked on the already open door and entered. The smell of coffee was delicious, but I had no time for one now, I had to deal with this matter head on.

“Agent Nox?” he asked in his usual disinterested manner.

I took a deep breath and got straight to point. “I want agent Tingles re-assigned.”

“No.” He didn’t even look up from his paperwork. “Was there anything else?”

“This isn’t up for discussion, Warlock,” I said firmly. “I’m not working with her or any other mare again, and that’s final. Do you understand me? No more mares!”

He looked up now, irritation in his expression. “You’re right at about one thing, Nox, this isn’t up for discussion. You don’t get a choice here. Nopony does. In the agency we all do as we’re told, whether you like it or not.”

For Luna’s sake, I should have seen this coming a mile away. My frustration at the intransigent unicorn was bubbling up already, and unfortunately my emotions were doing the talking instead of my head. “Then tell me,” I asked threateningly, “what’s to stop me telling you to go buck yourself and walking out that door right now, huh?”

“Nothing at all,” Warlock replied calmly. “But you won’t. You want your mare back, don’t you? And as I see it, the mistress is your only hope for making that happen. Of course, if you think you can do without her help, then I for one would be all too happy to see the back of you.” He watched me quietly for a moment and then nodded knowingly, “You see, Nox, you need us just as much as we need you. The mistress needs you. Equestria needs you.”

“Yeah, right,” I huffed testily. “Where is the mistress then, Warlock? Answer me that can you? I’ve tried to see her I don’t know how many times, and she never answers the damned door. I agreed to help the agency so I could find Shadow, but helping Equestria is secondary to that.” I snorted bitterly. “I’m being played like a bloody fiddle here, and you know it.”

“Now you listen to me, Agent Nox!” Warlock shouted across the desk, “The mistress risked her life saving your miserable bucking hide and you’d throw all that back in her face because you don’t like working with Tingles? What the seven hells is going through your head?!”

I took a calming breath, trying to slow my heartbeat, “How many of your partners have died Warlock? How many died in your hooves? You sit there behind your desk like you’re something bloody special but you haven’t got bucking clue have you? Do you know how many of my friends and family I’ve buried? How many times I’ve looked into their eyes as that precious spark of life goes out?” I grit my teeth. “I’m not going to lose another one. Not one more. For the goddess’s sake Warlock, try to understand.”

“NO!” he bellowed slamming the desk. “We all lose partners, Nox, it’s a part of what we do. It’s the risk we take every day we walk out that bloody door. My sister, my niece, my daughter, my friends… I’ve buried more of them than you could ever know. We’re at war here stallion, and we need every last soldier we can get right now, including you!”

Warlock’s words struck home with lethal accuracy, derailing my sense of outrage, but there was still the hurdle of pride remaining within me to get over, and all he’d really managed to do was solidify my determination. “Then I’ll do your dirty work for you,” I said levelly. “I’ll do my duty like a good little colt. But you have to re-assign Tingles, Warlock. That’s all I’m asking for.”

The orange stallion was intransigent. “No, Nox. I have my orders too.”

I closed my eyes, feeling my hopes splashing to the dark pit of despair that always seemed to be there, lurking in the blackness, waiting for them. “Then I’ve no other choice,” I said quietly. “I resign.”

He laughed, “Nopony ‘resigns’ from the agency, Nox. Nopony.”

I could feel the anger beginning to boil up inside me, my eyesight taking on the blue corona, my teeth itching… If I didn’t get out of there, this wouldn’t end well for either of us. I headed for the door and looked back at him over my shoulder, “Do you think you can stop me, Warlock?” I hissed. “Try…” A bolt of purple magic hurled me bodily across the room into the wall, the violence of the impact showering me with posters and other assorted paperwork. I was back on my hooves in a heartbeat, magic pulsing through my horn, ready to release at the cloaked attacker in the doorway. The attacker with the… silver shoes... oh, no…

She advanced on me, her horn glowing and eyes shining like the wrath of heaven. “Warlock,” she announced. “You may leave us.”

“But, Mistress!”

She shot him a look which said much more than words ever could. His expression said it all; you did not argue with the princess of the night. Warlock scuttled out the office, glowering at me as he did so. The threat of retribution was all too present in those eyes, leaving me with the distinct impression he didn’t like me very much. The feeling was decidedly mutual. Suddenly I was acutely aware of the silence in the room. The ‘mistress’ stood staring at me, the only movement the rippling of her midnight mane and tail which drew my eye like a magnet. There was a click as the office door closed behind Warlock. He wouldn’t be far away, I knew that.

Luna threw back the hood of her cloak and surveyed me calmly, “Can you release your power fully, Fairlight?”

Well, this was a surprise! I expected a reprimand, if not an outright attack for my behaviour. But here, the princess of the night wanted me to… change before her? I nodded. In the presence of her majesty, my resolve to storm out of the place disappeared in an instant. Carefully, I lifted my restraint on the spirit’s power and felt its strength flow through me. In moments the white fog began swirling around my haunches and hind legs, my teeth growing sharper, longer. The muscles in my chest and legs throbbed with the otherworldly energy. I felt strong, invincible… nopony could challenge me…

“Impressive.” Luna said looking me up and down, “We… I, have not seen a wendigo warrior for a long time, Captain. A very long time.”

“Your majesty,” I said quietly, “I-”

She held up a hoof to my mouth, smiling, “I know what you’re going to ask me, Captain. Come, let us retire to my quarters to talk. Please, would you retain that form for me? I find its nostalgia… pleasing.”

I barely had time to nod before a pulse of purple energy surrounded us both, and with a surprisingly loud ‘pop’ we appeared in her quarters near the large stone fireplace I remembered from my first visit. I gave my mane a shake; I’d never teleported before. It was something I’d heard of but never seen nor experienced in all honesty, and it made me feel a touch giddy too. It was a higher level of magic that few but the most talented unicorns ever achieved, and just as well I suppose. The thought of criminals being able to simply ‘pop up’ out nowhere, like bank vaults for example, was a frightening prospect for any law enforcement pony. Even so, I marvelled at the ease with which the princess had performed such an amazing feat. Meanwhile, Luna glided across the deep rug to ensconce herself in the large velvet chair that matched her coat colour. With an effortless application of magic she removed the cloak from around her shoulders, revealing the princess of the night in all her glory.

“I have something for you,” she said in her soft tone, and fished about in a saddle pack next to her chair. “Aha!” she cried in triumph, levitating a large bottle from its depths along with a drinking glass. The liquid inside sparkled and danced in the firelight, and to my surprise I found I couldn’t keep my eyes from it for some reason. The princess had noticed my reaction too. Watching my every move, Luna poured out a glass full and levitated it over to me which I took gratefully. Sniffing the contents, embarrassingly I began to salivate, a thick mist pouring out from between my fangs. She laughed mischievously, “I thought you’d like that,” and snuggled herself deeper into the chair. I looked back up at her while she poured herself a glass from a different bottle. The princess smiled, her eyes shining, “Oh, don’t stand on ceremony. Please, Captain, drink up. It’s not poisoned I assure you. It was made with true love.”

That didn’t assure me at all! But the smell... On an instinctual level I somehow knew what this was, and without even thinking about it I took a greedy gulp, downing the contents of the glass in one go. The feeling of being filled was beyond compare. I was ecstatic! I felt alive, truly alive, my senses keener and razor sharp. I rumbled in satisfaction, watching Luna as she watched me, those big azure eyes never leaving my face.

“Life energy,” she murmured demurely. “Such a rare commodity, and yet so abundant… given the right ‘conditions’. I’ve never failed to be impressed by your kind, Fairlight. You are truly a rare item indeed.”

Item? I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but in any case, it didn’t matter. Gathering my resolve I faced the alicorn mare. “Princess, I’m sorry for my behaviour in Warlock’s office. It’s about Tingles, the agent assigned to me? I can’t work with her any more. It’s nothing she’s done wrong, goddesses know she’d been the best partner I’ve ever had, it’s just that I can’t risk losing another partner. I don’t think I could bare to see another pony die because of me.”

Luna looked into the fireplace, appearing to be deep in thought. “Do you know why I assigned that pony to be your partner Captain?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yes, she said that she’d asked you specifically as she’d worked with me before.”

“Tingles is special,” Luna explained. “She has a heart which is both generous and kind. Not especially rare traits in themselves, granted, however she also has an openness and accepting nature that I found… intriguing. She joined the agency because she wanted to help Equestria, Captain, and I agreed to allow her to work with you in that capacity. You two share a bond, and one I’m sure a perceptive stallion such as yourself have noticed at least a little?” I raised my but quickly put it down when I saw her expression. “I’m afraid that regardless of your protests, my mind is made up,” she said politely. “Agent Tingles is your partner until I say otherwise. I trust that is that clear, Captain?”

I could feel my heart sink, and answered, “Yes, my lady.”

Luna’s ears perked up, “‘My lady…’” An odd look flashed across her features momentarily. “Yes, well…I hope you will understand, Captain, that I cannot tell you everything. After all, a lady must have her secrets, no?”

Luna’s eyes bored into me and I could feel goosebumps prickling my hide. She sighed and whispered so quietly I could barely make out the words, “A secret, never to be told.” The princess stood abruptly, walking over to me and ran a hoof over my neck and back. “So strong, so powerful…” she murmured. “Beautiful, in a terrible, terrifying way. Tell me, Captain Fairlight, do you remember anything of your people?”

“Some of it, Princess,” I confessed. “My aunt helped me to see the past. I’m not sure how she did it though, or what it truly means.”

“Yes. Yes, she did didn’t she,” Luna said with a smile. “I thought she might. Pewter is quite a clever witch, but she has her limits. We all have our limits. Even wendigo.” The princess moved closer, lifting my tail and… was she sniffing me?!

“What do you recall, Fairlight?” she purred. “Who do you remember?”

My voice quavered for a moment before I took it back under control, “My lady, I recall a battle during the great war. I was... there, but not there, in the body of a wendigo - one called Lord Maroc.”

Luna paused, her hoof momentarily stopping in its travel down my flank before continuing, “Lord Maroc? Yes… I remember him. Such a powerful warrior. He was your ancestor, Fairlight, did you know?” Her voice was smooth, like honey, and deliciously alluring.

“No,” I replied honestly. “I didn’t know, my princess.” It was something of a revelation, true, but in all fairness it didn’t mean much to me. After all, Maroc was long gone. The wendigo themselves were gone too. Celestia had seen to that little problem alright. A thousand years had passed by and now, poor sod that I am, I was stuck with this spirit tainted soul that had been more of a curse than anything else. Somehow I didn’t think I’d be giving thanks for my distant ancestral ‘heritage’ any time soon.

“Call me, ‘My lady’,” Luna whispered in my ear. “I like that.” To my shock she nuzzled my hind leg and gave it a tentative... lick? I nearly jumped from the sensation. It wasn’t unpleasant, but was the last thing I’d expected from anypony, let alone one of the princesses! Resisting the urge to give myself a hard shake, I took a deep breath instead. I had regain the initiative and press my questions. Goddesses knew when I’d have another chance like this.

“Pr-” I began, quickly correcting myself. “My lady, may I ask, have you had any success in finding Shadow?”

Luna continued to examine me, holding my mane up to her muzzle. “Yes, I have found her.” She barely whispered, “Bringing her to the mortal world though, may prove a little difficult, although I do have faith that I can do this for you.” She appeared back in front of me, her eyes glinting in the firelight, “Do you have faith in me, my subject?”

“Yes, my lady, I do,” I replied.

Luna smiled, satisfied. “Good… Then you are willing to pay me my price for this help?”

“Price?” I asked in surprise. “My lady, I thought my help in the agency was-”

“-not enough,” she interrupted. “You are unique, my wendigo warrior, and it has been a long time… such a long time, my Lord Maroc...” She leaned forward and brushed her lips softly against mine. I jumped back in shock. What was she doing?! I wasn’t this Lord Maroc!

“Luna, my lady,” I said quickly. “I beg you, I think you’ve mistaken me for Lord Maroc. He died over a thousand years ago. Besides, I’m married, I can’ t…” I swallowed. “I mean, you’re the princess!”

She laughed girlishly, holding a hoof up before her muzzle, her azure eyes catching the flickering light from the fire. Goddesses, she was so beautiful…

“Oh my!” she teased, “Quite the shy gentlecolt, aren’t we?” Luna walked over to pick up her glass, taking another mouthful. Looking into the flames, she spoke, “Lord Maroc did indeed die, my dear Fairlight. Even if he had survived however, he would have lived out his span of years long, long ago. After all, nopony lives forever.” She licked her lips and put down her glass, her expression taking on a sad and distant cast. “Eternity can be a long time to be alone… such a very long time.” She turned to face me, her mane flowing out behind her, the stars twinkling brighter than I remembered the last time I had seen the princess of the night. “Your dedication to a dead mare is admirable, Captain. Admirable, but ultimately foolish. I cannot help but wonder why you insist on refer to being ‘married’ to Meadow, when you were happy enough to mate yourself with the thestral. Pray tell me, how can you explain this contradiction?”

I hung my head shamefully. “I was… alone.” I confessed. “I was lost in a world of nothing but darkness and the horrors of the unknown. Shadow was the only other living soul I encountered in the Wither World other than monsters, and we grew closerover time. I never meant what happened to…” I swallowed. “It just… it just did.” Goddesses I was hopeless.

The midnight mare stepped closer, “You spoke to Meadow though, didn’t you. And you shared your time with her, and the lady Shadow, in the wheat fields of Elysium – the Eternal Herd.”

I balked, “My lady! How can you know that?! I didn’t tell you what happened there!”

Luna smiled, “No, Captain, you didn’t. However, I don’t think you know your wife quiteas well as you think you do, or mares generally for that matter. I have lived for well over a thousand years, travelled to places and seen things you could not even begin to imagine. Do you really think the land of the eternal herd is unknown to me?” I shook my head silently as Luna continued, “My dear Fairlight,” she breathed, moving her muzzle next to my ear, “…do you know yourself?”

I shut my eyes tight. It was like she was staring into my very being. “I don’t know my lady,” I replied. “My heart is in turmoil, and my soul divided. I had hoped to try to accept the spirit and somehow make myself ‘whole’ again, but it’s so hard to remain… me.”

“Are you not yourself, now?” Luna asked. I said nothing. She ran a hoof through my mane and under my chin, her silver filigree shoes cold against my snowy white coat. “There is a way,” the mare smiled quietly. “Before the destruction of their fortress, the wendigo would invite selected members of their tribe to become one with the spirits of the Wither World. Only their strongest, or those who had performed great deeds for their people, would be chosen. Even so, the spirits would not always accept the chosen one, but those they did would be forever changed. The ones who successfully bonded with a spirit are the ones we know as ‘wendigo’.”

Huh! I don’t recall being ‘invited’ at all! The bloody thing had latched onto me like some nightmarish parasite and was constantly hovering on the edge of my consciousness, watching everything I did. And I mean, everything. “But that didn’t happen to me,” I said quietly.

“No. You’re case is quite unique,” Luna observed. “Your soul had passed over, but your body remained here, on the very cusp of death. It was only through my intervention that I was able to repair your physical self and call your soul back from the thestral realm with the aid of your friend, Star Beard. Unfortunately I had not expected your ancestral line to be what it was, or else I would have taken… ‘precautions’.” She shrugged. “The spirits that live between our world and that of the thestrals are drawn to strong emotion: anger, hatred, suffering, pain. Normally this does not cause too much of a problem for the deceased, but the tribal blood line developed a strong connection to the spirits over time, attracting them more than any normal pony would. In a sense, your ancestry acts as a conduit for them, somewhat like a vessel waiting to be filled.”

Well, that sounded positive! Not. Besides, I think I’d ticked most of those ‘emotional’ boxes Luna was talking about. Not really surprising for an ‘abnormal pony’! “So they’re not attracted to positive emotions then?” I asked hopefully.

“I am not aware of it,” Luna replied simply. “I do not know everything about wendigo, Captain. They were, after all, a remote and secretive people. What I do know, is that you are without doubt the descendant of the lord of the tribe of the four winds, the commander of the wendigo forces which my sister defeated. Seeing you stand before me now…” Her voice dropped to a murmur. “You look so much like him...” She rubbed her head up against me and breathed deeply, “You even smell like him”.

“My lady,” I said, trying to retain my grip on the conversation, “you said that there was a way I could bond with the spirit fully and remain in control?"

“Mmm, I did,” Luna purred. “That knowledge may indeed still exist somewhere in Equestria, but where exactly, I could not begin to imagine.” Her azure eyes loomed in my vision and I could myself being drawn in. “The first step is always the hardest. You must accept that not everything is as it appears on the surface. Trust in your instincts, and be prepared to make changes to yourself that will help you blend with the spirit, to become… one.”

“I don’t know whether I have the strength,” I said quietly.

Luna nuzzled my neck softly, “Oh, you have the strength, Fairlight. I saw it from the very moment you entered the dream world. It is only guidance you lack; a helping hoof to lead you and protect your heart.” The midnight mare glided her muzzle up my neck. “Ponies shouldn’t be alone, Fairlight. Don’t deny yourself love, it is the key to that which makes us whole.” I stood drinking in the sensation of the alicorn moving against my fur, her wings slipping over my flank, her breath on my cheek. “Tell me, Captain…” Luna’s lips brushed mine, sending a bolt of electricity through me, her voice as soft as the morning breeze, “...do you love your princess?”

“Yes…” I whispered.

Luna’s half lidded eyes blinked slowly. “Do you... want her?”

I swallowed. “Yes...”

Need flooded through me, my mind a blaze of urgent desire. Luna groaned as I grabbed her in my forelegs and pulled her into an embrace, kissing her deeply until the only necessity for air parted us. She gasped, pupils dilated, wispy motes of sparkling silver mist edging her mouth. “My lord,” she breathed, “you have returned…”

She trailed off, breathing in the mist, moaning in ecstasy before she reached across and kissed me. Her lips were soft, her breath warm and exotic. Luna groaned as she inhaled a little more of my life energy into herself. I could feel it draining from me, only a trickle, but just enough to bring her a pleasure far beyond the mere physical. Gently she pushed me onto the rug before the fire, pushing into me, her chest heaving and her mouth hanging open. She was pressing into me with a desperation that was as frightening as it was exciting. “My lord, your princess has waited a millennia for you,” Lune murmured. “I have been so alone without anypony to hold me, to be with me.” She pulled me into an embrace and I could feel tears soaking into my fur, “I don’t want to be alone again. P lease…never again…” Luna pulled back, shining tears dropping onto my chest. I gazed into her fathomless azure eyes, feeling like I was falling into them, tumbling weightlessly into the deepest voids of space. The shimmering star field of her mane and tail sang a song of her loneliness in the night, and I let myself be guided by her light.

“My lady…”

Suddenly Luna pushed away from me and twisted round to lie on her stomach, her tail brushing against my muzzle. “The night is young, and it ends, when the princess of the night has had her fill.” Inside my soul a voice answered. In that moment, there with the princess, the Wither World spirit and I both wished that the night could truly last forever…

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

What is that thing in the picture?

[Bluespectre]

8813649
It's a picture I found on the net of a thestral. I haven't been able to find an artist to draw one for me just the way I imagine them yet, but one day I hope to.

[Iamnotabrony456]

This story should be called Fairlight gets all the mares

[LexCrowne]

I have to say, while I enjoyed the brackenxNMM from your other story series, the lust and (maybe) love luna had for the lord morrac and now for fairlight just seems... shallow. I can't help but feel it's going to lead to bad things

[Fallen Knight]

By the gods, what a nightmare! Part of me could still ‘feel’ the heat scorching my me, the smell of burning hair filling my nostrils.

Considering its burning hair smell, i assume the me is supposed to be mane.

“Cap’? You okay? Can you speak?” Tingles’ voice was full of concern. She was stood next to me, a damp cloth her hooves.

in?

“What the buck do you know?! You don’t know what I’ve seen, what I’ve done! bome bucking kid tries to shoot me and you act all self righteous, like I’ve done something wrong!”

some

Well, at this point Fairlight reminds me more of Bracken then the wendigos i guess? heh he gets all the mares. Though Luna will probably at some point be disappointed or even angry, considering how her feelings are more for the spirit then the body.