Prolouge

It is the end of all hope
To lose the child, the faith
To end all the innocence
To be someone like me

ϾϾϾ

“But Luna! Celestia! You two can’t be serious!” Nightfire says looking between his sisters. “I’m not leaving you two alone to deal with this!”

“You don’t have a choice here brother, this is our test and we either pass or fail on our own,” Luna says looking down at her hooves.

“But those Zebra are planning something bigger than any of us three combined, you know it as well as I do and if we don’t strike first then it’ll be the end of us,” Nightfire replies snapping his wings wide in agitation.

“We know brother. We’ve known for so long that they’re going to attack us with everything they have,” Celestia says looking at her hooves sadly. “We know that we’ll most likely die because of this but we’re willing to risk our lives to save those we’ve watched over for so many centuries.”

“But Celestia, Luna. You’re my little sisters; I promised mom and dad that I’d keep you safe. If you die… then I’ll-“ Nightfire started only for Luna to hush him with her hoof over his lips.

“Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be Nightfire,” Luna says softly before pulling her hoof away. “We love you so much, just go to the location that we chose for you and you’ll be safe there if everything does indeed go wrong.”

“All the files I need are on my PipBuck yes?” Nightfire asks looking down at his left foreleg at the Delta model locked firmly on his foreleg.

“Everything you’ll ever need is on that Nightfire, just be sure to remember us when you awaken,” Celestia says stepping forward to hug her brother close. “Don’t ever forget; no matter what happens to us or where you go, we’ll always be with you.”

“I’ll remember. But I just feel like I’m letting mom and dad down.”

“Don’t. You’ve done all you can aside from going into battle yourself. You’ve seen what the Zebra have done to even our best,” Luna says as Celestia releases Nightfire from her hug.

“I know Lulu, it’s just that; after what we’ve gone through in our lives, we deserve a couple centuries of peace.”

“Don’t worry about it Nightfire, we’ve done all we can. All we can do now is look forward and hope for the best.”

“I must be going now you two,” Nightfire says hugging Luna tightly and nuzzles her cheek. “I’ll miss you both, and once this is all over… I’ll come and find you.”

“Just stay safe, you understand me?” Luna asks as tears start leaking from her eyes and stain her older brother’s cheek.

“I promise,” Nightfire replies as his own tears stain her cheek fur.

“Are you taking anypony with you?” Celestia asks as Nightfire and Luna slowly break their final embrace.

“Only those willing to follow me, so only the Captain and a small group of those who are under him. Besides, that small Stable you had built for me can only at best hold maybe two dozen ponies.”

“Actually, that small Stable we had built for you can hold around thirty ponies, not including yourself,” Celestia says as her eyes start watering up. “I’m… I’m going to miss you brother,” Celestia says as she rushes forward and hugs him tightly while rubbing her cheek against his own, letting her tears flow freely.

Nightfire hugs her back tightly as his tears stain her cheeks. “I’ll fi-find you both, I pro-promise.”

“We know… now get going. If th-things go bad… you’ll be th-the sole Royal of Eq-Equestria,” Celestia says fearing the worst.

“I understand… goodbye,” Nightfire says and looks into their eyes one last time before the door to the balcony they were on is pushed open.

“Your Highness… I hate to speed this along but we have to get you to safety,” The Captain of Nightfire’s personal guard who was named High Velocity says bowing to his Prince.

“I know, let’s get going,” Nightfire says as he looks back at his sisters who were holding each other and crying softly. ‘This isn’t goodbye… I will find you two somehow, and if I can’t… then I failed as your brother.’

“Follow me Your Highness. We’ll be leaving with the few guards that’ll stay with us,” He says as he leads them through the castle and then stops at a large empty wall. “I’m sorry about what’s happening, this war with those Zebra bastards has torn many families apart. I never thought it’d tear yours apart.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nightfire replies as he looks over his shoulder. “I’m just going to miss them so much.”

“I understand that Your Highness, they’re your sisters. If I were in your shoes I would to.”

“So who is going with us to the Stable meant to keep me safe?” Nightfire asks after walking in silence as they approach a balcony that Celestia and Luna would use for raising and setting the sun and moon, a heavy breeze blowing though Canterlot blowing Nightfire’s long mane behind his head and then uses his magic to brush his mane back into place, his long mane now framing his face with black and blue locks of hair.

“This is where the others will be meeting us, but for now we just wait. I just hope that they don’t take much longer.”

“Do you know where they are? I’d personally like to get out of here sooner rather than later.”

“They should be here now,” High Velocity says as he looks at the balcony door and sees a group of about twenty five or so guards each wearing their black armor, helmets on and faces worried. “Your Highness. They’re here.”

Nightfire slowly turns around and looks at the guards who then salute him, their front right hoof going to their foreheads. “At ease,” Nightfire says giving them all a nod and they assume the ‘at ease’ stance; their forelegs shoulder length apart. “I know you all would want to be home with your families, but I’m happy to see you here fulfilling your duty as Royal Guards. I know that things haven’t gone the way that either my sisters of myself have intended but ever since the incident with Luna’s School for Gifted Unicorns in Littlehorn, and all of the others that’ve happened. But I’m going to give you all this now; if you want to leave, then I won’t blame you. Go and be with your families because if things go wrong I’d rather you be with them than guarding me.”

The twenty-five guards look amongst each other before remaining in place. “I think you have your answer Sir,” High Velocity says shuffling his wings gently.

“Then let me go and speak with Rainbow Dash one last time before we leave, I want to pick her brain about this plan of hers.”

“I’m afraid if we do Your Highness; it’ll have to be brief, we are to have left Canterlot in one hour,” High Velocity replies and nods to the rest of the guards and walks away from Nightfire leaving him alone on the balcony.

“That’s all I’ll need,” Nightfire says loudly enough for the guards closest to him to hear then vanishes in a flash of blue light.

***The Ministry of Awesome – Canterlot***

“Your Highness! I wasn’t expecting you here,” Rainbow Dash says bowing deeply to Nightfire after the light from his teleportation had died down.

“At ease Rainbow. I’m not here on any real official business, just to pick your brain for a moment or so before I leave.” Nightfire says with a small frown and taps her shoulder gently with a hoof.

“What do you need to know Nightfire?” She asks softly lifting herself up from her bow and stared into his dark blue eyes with her magenta ones.

“I know that what happened with Cloudsdale and everything is really hurting you, but I want to know; why come back knowing you’d be branded a traitor for wanting to help the Unicorn’s and Earth ponies still down here?”

Rainbow Dash looks down at her bare hoof in her Ministry mare dress uniform and sighed sadly. “I… I guess... I just didn’t want Pegasi to be known only as cowards after something we all hold dear is taken from us. You know? I still want to help Equestria even though Fluttershy, Scootaloo and I are the very few remaining Pegasi still on the ground.”

“I understand what you mean Dash. Now I only want to ask you, about that project of yours?” Nightfire asks and looks over her normal attire then over to a mannequin that had her Shadowbolt armor.

“You mean… the Single Pegasus Project?”

“Yes, will it be ready in case things don’t go as planned?” Nightfire asks looking around the building that they were in.

“It’s going better than I thought, though there’s still much work to do before it’s finished.”

“I understand, do you know if it’ll work?”

“That’s still undetermined, but I believe that it’ll work,” Dash replies and then looks at her hooves, her earlier attitude seeming to slither out of her body.

“You ok Rainbow Dash? I know that this war has put a lot of strain on your friendships lately but how bad can it really be?”

“Pinkie Pie and Twilight still aren’t talking to each other,” Rainbow mutters softly and her once brilliant rainbow hued tail slide against the marble floor.

“Still? I thought Twilight and Pinkie started talking again.”

“We wish that they’d talk but Pinkie’s dependence on Party-Time Mint-als has made that impossible,” Dash says with a near silent sigh as she looks down at her hooves.

“Don’t worry Dash, I’m sure everything will work out somehow in the end,” Nightfire says lifting her chin with a hoof and smiles a small smile at her.

“How can you be so sure Your Highness?” She asks smacking his hoof away with hers. “All of us used to be friends and now look at us; Applejack was target for an attack, I’ve nearly been killed! Everything’s gone to fucking hell! Your own sister stepped down from the throne!”

Softly Nightfire looks away and then speaks a few words so softly that Rainbow Dash had to strain her hearing to even barely hear it.

“What did you say?” She asks before then stepping closer.

“I said ‘Forgive those who wrong you, no matter how long it takes,’ I spoke that in Old Equestrian; but I guess things never go as planned. The last thing I want to tell you Rainbow Dash,” Nightfire says setting down his hoof gently on the floor of the Ministry of Awesome.

“Yes Nightfire?”

“The last thing I can tell you, is that I will tell your story; I know you very well thanks to Twilight’s old reports to my sisters and the others as well. If things go bad, I’ll make it known that you did everything you could. Also… I’ll make sure that everypony knows that Fluttershy, Scootaloo and yourself stood by Celestia and Luna till the very end.”

“Th-Thank you Your Highness. I-“ Rainbow Dash started only to feel Nightfire’s shoed hoof press against her lips.

“Don’t. Things never should’ve gotten this bad, nor should I have stayed in the shadows like my sisters wanted. Maybe if I had intervened then things wouldn’t be like they are now,” Nightfire says and then looks away out a window to the Ministry Walk. “I… I can only say that I’m sorry for the way things turned out. I hope you forgive me and my sisters,” Nightfire replies sadly as his wings droop and nearly brush the ground and as tears start leaking down his cheeks.

Rainbow Dash watches him weep for a moment before walking up to him and gives him a reassuring hug. “You did everything you could… I just wish things would’ve worked differently as well,” She says as some tears start leaking from her eyes.

“I… I must go Rainbow… I still have to sp-speak with the others… before I go to sleep,” Nightfire says as he embraces her and then pushes her away gently. “Be sm-smart and stay safe. May you live long.”

“May you li-live forever Nightfire… remember us how we used to be,” Dash says then bows her head to him one last time.

“Goodbye.” Nightfire nods his head to her politely and then turns to the door as he sees the chariot meant to take him to his stable pulls up in front of the Ministry. “Forgive my sisters and I… goodbye,” Nightfire says as he pushes open the door and closes it behind him not hearing what Rainbow Dash had muttered under her breath; ‘I forgive you.’

“Are you ready to leave Your Highness?” High Velocity asks as the other guards surround the chariot as if expecting an attack.

“Yes… now let’s go, the longer I’m here the more I want to go back to the castle and never leave till the day I die,” Nightfire says looking up at the place he had called home for so many years; where he and Luna had pranked their sister, where he and Celestia had spent so much time reading together while watching over Luna as she slept after she’d returned from her banishment.

“You heard Prince Nightfire! Move out!” High Velocity calls out to the guard and opens the door of it for Nightfire to step inside. “Your Highness?”

“Thank you…” Nightfire says looking back at the Ministry of Awesome one last time and then steps inside along with the Captain and a few other guards.

“This is for the rest of you…” High Velocity says pulling out a few blindfolds from under his seat. “For Prince Nightfire’s safety and for yours.”

“Understood Sir,” The other guards say as they apply their blindfolds to themselves while Nightfire remains free of his as well as the Captain.

“I’m going to rest… I need to take my mind off of this and maybe see my sisters again when we were happy,” Nightfire says lying down on his large seat and slowly closes his eyes and falls into slumber despite his worries.

***Hours of flight later***

Nightfire slowly opens his eyes only to see the inside of a large cave. “A-Are we there?”

“Yes Sir…we just arrived a few minutes ago, and none of us wanted to wake you,” High Velocity says as Nightfire stands up and stretches his body out.

“So… this is the place we’ll be for at the bare minimum of 200 years?” Nightfire asks looking into the cave to see the large steel Stable door with his mark in the center. “Celestia and Luna made sure nopony remembers this place yes?”

“Yes Sir. After the Stable was completed they wiped the minds of those who worked on it.” One of the other guards say also looking at the large door along with the others still inside the chariot.

Nightfire nods and pushes open the door of the chariot and shivers softly at the natural temperature inside the cave and walks up to the large steel door. “Let’s at least look around this place so you all can get comfortable,” Nightfire says using his magic to enter a code and soon the large steel door opens, the cool cave air of the short cave rushing into the Stable before them. The large door not having a single number on it like the traditional Stables. However there was a mark on the center of the door; Nightfire’s own Cutie Mark; a crescent moon with a crown hanging off the bottom tip and a fire burning from the crown.

“Yes Sir,” High Velocity says nodding his head to Nightfire and slowly rises from his seat behind the Alicorn Prince who had just managed to open the door. “Make sure that the Stable is safe and then inform me.”

“Yes Sir!” The guards inside says giving them both a salute before filing out and start heading toward the Stable door.

“What are the odds that anypony or zebra knows of this place?” Nightfire asks watching as the large door slowly slides open with a loud squeal of metal against metal.

“The odds are very unlikely but you know as well as we do; the Zebra have come up with many different ways to gather information.”

“True, it’s just that I’d like to know how they did it. Not even my sisters or myself could’ve made anything like that.”

“Really? Even with all of your knowledge of the Zebra nation?”

“Not even then. I even managed to speak with Zecora about them, but unfortunately I only got the one chance before she was killed,” Nightfire says and looks around the door and looks back to the chariot.

“Was she able to give you any special advice?”

“To be honest, not really. She may still have had friends back home but it seems that they wouldn’t tell her anything more than what she remembered. I want the chariot to be parked against the wall here. Maybe when I wake up I can see how things changed.”

“That’s unfortunate, but at least you talked with her. From what I heard she was a very interesting Zebra and one of the only ones on our side and Yes Sir, it’ll be done ASAP,” High Velocity says and waves a guard who was standing guard at the entrance of the cave who quickly goes to work of moving the chariot on his own.

“She was interesting… though it was unfortunate to hear about her death,” Nightfire says gently and nods to the guard who’d moved the vehicle on his own.

“Well… is there anything else you want to talk about Sir?”

Nightfire remains silent for a moment before sighing sadly. “At the moment no. But I do have something to tell you before I’m put into stasis.”

“Yes Sir… I assume that it’s a matter of secrecy?”

“You’d be wrong to assume that. For once all it is; one final order,” Nightfire says looking over at his Captain with a look that the Captain hadn’t seen from his charge before.

“A final order Sir?”

“I’ll tell you what it is before I’m to b-“ Nightfire started before being interrupted by one of the guards calling back to High Velocity.

“Sir! The Stable’s secure. No sign of anypony inside it other than ourselves.”

“Understood, bringing Prince Nightfire in now,” High Velocity says then looks at Nightfire, the setting sun behind him making him look like a hero from old legends. “Your Highness, it’s time.”

“I know, I just never thought that I’d ever have this happen.”

“I understand Sir. Now please follow me,” High Velocity says as they both start their short walk over the large treads of the large Stable door and steps onto the cold metal of the floor.

“The first time I’ve seen this door; and I won’t see it again for at least two-hundred years,” Nightfire says softly and then looks at the control panel beside the large door. “Did you think that your final days on this world would be stuck inside a Stable?”

“Honestly Your Highness, I expected to die protecting you from an assassination attempt by the Zebra. But things never go as you hope,” He replies softly before shrugging gently. “Sir, ma-“ High Velocity says before being interrupted by Nightfire spreading a wing in front of his face.

“Please, call me Nightfire, this may be the last time I really ever see you or the others,” Nightfire says and then uses his magic to pull his mane into a tight ponytail and then pulls a small bit of blue ribbon from around the base of his wing and then ties it gently around the base of his mane tying it into a tight bow.

“Yes s-Nightfire, forgive me but I’m not used to calling you by name,” High Velocity says before they enter the Stable Nightfire walking shortly behind him.

“Captain, I need you to go and check on my stasis pod, despite the fact that I’m sure that Luna and Celestia put all of their trust in the ponies that built this place,” Nightfire says as he turns to his Captain before hearing his stomach rumble loudly. “I’m going to get one more bite to eat before I go to sleep for the next 200 years.”

“Of course Your Highness,” He replies and then starts walking down the Stable’s small hallways to the room that his charge will be sleeping in for 200 years. “I wonder what things will be like in 200 years? None of my generation will know but hopefully Prince Nightfire will help set things right if things do end with Megaspells.”

As High Velocity walks down the hallway he rounds a corner and sees two of the guards that he had personally charged with guarding the door. “Sir!” The two Guard ponies say as they salute their Captain quickly.

“At ease you two, I just need to check a couple things before our Prince can enter this room,” He says before stepping up to the door and then takes a deep breath as he steps into the room to begin his duty.

Meanwhile back in the dinner hall of the Stable, Nightfire enjoys a large apple with a large bottle of Sparkle Cola. “Twilight, these drinks where a good kind of propaganda for the war, but things will be different one way or another,” Nightfire says with a smile and then puts the bottle to his lips and starts drinking the bottle dry with large gulps. After a couple large gulps what was left of the cola and then sets the bottle down and lets out a loud burp. “Normally Tia would’ve slapped me upside the head for that but I guess that’ll be one thing I can do without worry. But… that doesn’t mean that I won’t miss my little sisters.”

“Sir? I am here to tell you that your room is ready for you,” A Unicorn Guard says softly bowing deeply to Prince Nightfire.

“I’ll be down there soon, just give me a couple more minutes,” Nightfire replies and then sighs softly.

“Of course Sir, should I have the rest of the Guard meet you down by the door?”

“Yes, I’d like to give one last speech to you all as well as one final order,” Nightfire replies then takes another large bite out of the apple resting on the plate before him. “I’ll be there soon, won’t be longer than six minutes.”

“Yes Sir!” The Guard replies snapping to attention and then salutes him before rushing off to perform his duty.

“I just need to do one last thing…“ Nightfire says as he lifts his left foreleg and starts looking down the list of items that he had in his Saddlebags. “This is it,” Nightfire says and then opens his saddlebags and pulls out a small picture of Celestia, Luna and himself standing in front of the throne back in Canterlot several years ago, during the war and before Celestia gave the throne to their youngest sister. “I’ll always remember you two, there isn’t anypony in the word who could take your place,” As the Alicorn Prince looks at the picture he sheds a few tears that dripped onto the picture. ‘It’s time for me to go, I hope that you two will be ok.’

Nightfire gets up from the seat and then starts walking through the halls of the Stable before looking up at a sign that told him that his room was down to the left and to the right was other rooms for the Guards. Nightfire rolls his eyes and then turns to the left and starts his short walk to his room. After a silent walk all of his own and then felt the magic of his other Guards waiting in front of his room. “Guards… I’m here and I’d like for your Captain to give a speech on my behalf since I honestly cannot think of anything more to say then what I told you back in Canterlot. Captain? If you please?”

“Of course Nightfire,” He says and then steps out from Nightfire’s room and then clears his throat. “Now I know you all know that I’m Nightfire’s youngest Captain, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t understand that this will be the place that we’ll see during our lifetimes. But we’re following our duties as Prince Nightfire’s Royal Guard and we’ll be remembered forever because our Prince will help bring the greatness that Equestria once had back to the world.”

Nightfire smiles with glee and then steps forward. “My final order for all of you and for your children and their children until I wake up from my long slumber; there is a room opposite of the room our PipBuck technicians. There is a terminal in that room that once I wake up I will expect to find several things; first is the parents of each foal that is born here and what they are like as they grow up. Secondly, I want any and all frequencies that we intercept recorded and if at all possible, you are to try and triangulate the location of each transmission that you find. Finally,” Nightfire pauses and then sighs. “Your weapon that you have now, that is going to be the weapon that you’ll pass down to your children when you believe they have reached an appropriate age, or you’re in an accident that leaves you unable to perform your duties. Now understand that I know I expect a lot out of you but I only ask this because I know that you are the very best in each of your chosen fields. You’re the ones that the Ministry Mares wouldn’t take into their Ministries but instead you were chosen to become members of the Darkfire Guard. Now please understand that no matter what happens now, your names will live on through myself and the legacy that we leave behind.”

“Sir! Yes Sir!” All of Nightfire’s guard say immediately snapping to attention and bring their right hoof to their foreheads to salute him.

“Now all but the Captain may go to your rooms. I need to speak with him privately.”

“Sir!” They all reply and start filing away and soon Nightfire and their Captain alone in front of the door.

“Sir? What is my final order?” High Velocity asks as he and Nightfire make their way into the room.

“Your final order is only one I want the Captain of my Guard to undertake. The order is I need you to use the terminal in your room to make notes of all activity in the Stable; I mean everything and anything. From something as small as simple interactions, to the death of any of the Guard.”

“Sir? I don’t mean to question your final order, but I need to know why you want everything recorded,” High Velocity replies as Nightfire walks over to the bed and run a lone hoof gently over the thick glass that’ll be keeping him safe along with the measures that his sister’s had gone to.

“You see, I… guess that I’m one for records. I got that from my mother but it seems that only I got that bad habit.”

“I see… but I think I can do that for you sir. I will do my best.”

“Thank you. Now remember one thing, this is the one bit of advice I want you to pass on to all of the Captains that follow after you; War never changes, but ponies do.”

“Yes my Prince,” High Velocity says with a grim smile. “Are you ready?”

“Yes. Now before you close the pod I want you to tell me one thing that you’ll tell your foal,” Nightfire says as he climbs into the pod and rolls onto his back, resting his head on the pillow and then spreads his wings out to let them rest comfortably against the soft material under his body. The Alicorn looks above his head and pulls down the oxygen mask and secures it to his muzzle and breathes in the fresh air as he looks over at High Velocity.

“I’ll tell that lucky foal of the wonders that Equestria held before the war and of how Princess Celestia and Luna lead us through hard times,” High Velocity says with a smile. “Your Highness… I salute you and your accomplishments, and will forever remember what you’ve done for my family after they died,” He finishes with a choked sob and then give him one final salute. “Thank you for letting me serve you on the Darkfire Guard.”

“You’re welcome my faithful Captain, I hope that your family when I wake up will be like you…” Nightfire says and then uses his magic to close the glass top of the pod. Slowly Nightfire’s eyes begin to shut as his memories start flooding his mind; everything from when he first saw his little sisters when they were born, when they defeated Discord for the first time, to when they lost their parents and finally the last time they had together. ‘Celestia… Luna… I promised I’d find you, and no matter what, I will keep that promise,’ Nightfire thinks to himself and then closes his eyes as sleep finally consumes his mind.

Awakening

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Take hold of my hand, for you are no longer alone. Walk with me in hell

ϾϾϾ

“Nightfire… why did you leave us?” Celestia and Luna ask softly, their eyes red and puffy as if they had been crying for a long time. “Why did you leave us when we needed you? Why didn’t you keep your promise?”

“Tia… Lulu… I-I tried but yo-you both ha-have to for-forgive me...” Nightfire says to them as tears start flowing from his own eyes seeing his sisters in front of him. “Please… I lost you both once, do-don’t make me lo-lose you again,” Nightfire says and reaches a hoof to them only for his hoof to drop like a lead weight back to the black and empty ground.

“I to-told you he wou-wouldn’t be there for us,” Celestia says and then looks away from their brother and slowly gets up from her seat on the ground and then starts to walk away, slowly fading into the darkness, leaving Luna and Nightfire alone in the darkness. Luna looks to the direction that Celestia had gone and then turns her head around to look at her eldest brother again.

“You didn’t keep your promise to us… so why should we keep ours to you?” Luna asks and then wipes her eyes with her foreleg and then slowly stands up giving Nightfire a sorrowful expression before turning away and then slowly starts walking into the endless darkness around them and slowly vanishes into it, leaving him all alone; tears flowing down his cheeks like small rivers.

“Luna! Tia! Please forgive me!” Nightfire cries out loudly and tries to run after his sisters only for a tendril of darkness to wrap around his left rear foreleg making him gasp and try to use his magic only for nothing to happen except for the tendril to start swallowing his body leaving him incapable of fighting any longer but suddenly a bright light flooded his vision and the darkness to quickly fade and a voice fill the air.

“Your Highness… it’s time for you to wake up. You’ve been asleep for long enough,” The voice that was obviously from that of a mare sounded much like that of his mother.

“Who are you?” Nightfire asks keeping his eyes closed before slowly feeling a cool breeze on his mane. “What do you want from me?”

“For you to wake up. It’s been 200 years since you’ve seen the world.”

“Before I go… please tell me who you are!” Nightfire exclaims spreading his wings wide and then suddenly the entire dream falls away and a few more words are spoken by the voice.

“I’m just a friend.”

ϾϾϾ

“Your Highness!” Two ponies say while holding him down… looks of concern plastered on their faces.

“Wh-Who are you two?” Nightfire asks, swatting away their hooves, tearing the oxygen mask off of his face and quickly rolls to his belly to get to his hooves, looking at the two ponies dressed in black armor with black helmets that both had a single hole for their horns.

“Forgive us Your Highness. But the Stable is awake with the news that you were to awaken today. Captain Warlord requested that we be the first to meet you,” The guard on the left says bowing deeply to Nightfire and immediately the second pony followed suit.

“Tell me…” Nightfire begins looking at the two guards cautiously. “Why wouldn’t the Captain want to be the first to talk with me?”

“He’s currently taking care of disciplinary actions with another of your guard Sir,” The guard on the left says with a frown.

“Disciplinary actions? What happened?” Nightfire asks softly and slowly spreads his large wings wide finally being able to stretch them after two centuries of sleep.

“It was just a simple misunderstanding… nothing more Sir. But we are instructed to bring you to his room so that you may talk with him in private,” The Guard on the right says still keeping his head bowed respectfully to him.

“Of course… but two things. First, what are you names, and who are your parents? Secondly, before I go and talk with the Captain could I get a bite to eat?” Nightfire asks slowly relaxing his body.

“Firstly, my name is Silver Gleam,” The first Unicorn says with a smile, her voice identifying her as a mare.

“And I’m her twin brother, Iron Sun,” The male Unicorn says with an equally large grin on his face, their coats nearly pure white from how silver their coats are, making the black armor stand out like a drop of blood on white. But their manes were the complete opposite from each other’s; Silver Gleam’s being almost a light purple while her brother’s was a mint green.

“Silver Gleam and Iron Sun? I assume you know my name don’t you?” Nightfire asks finally letting his guard down.

“Yes we do Your Highness, and it’s a real honor to be the first ponies to see you awake,” Silver Gleam says lifting herself up from the bow.

“Now, answer the other part of that question you two,” Nightfire says giving a small wave of his hoof and shakes his mane to get a large strand of it from out of his face and behind his ear.

“Our father was a great friend of our current Captain’s father. He died about a year ago now. His name was Broken Star, and our mother is named Hidden Star.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your father, I would’ve loved to meet him. While we walk to get some food, mind if you tell me about yourselves?” Nightfire asks and looks around the room to find it as clean as the day that he entered it.

“Well, I’m the eldest twin,” Silver Gleam says with a smile and then looks over at her brother. “From what we understand, we seem to be able to think of something and the other can pick up on it, like telepathy. We’ve had this skill since we were little, and it’s really bugged the others that are near our age since they can never tell what both of us are thinking. Our parents were both specialists in machine guns and very great trackers though I think personally their skill as trackers was better than their knowledge with guns.”

“Is that so? Interesting. Well I shouldn’t keep the Captain waiting should I? Afterwards, I could meet with the others, learn about who I’m working with and see how quickly we all sync,” Nightfire says and takes a step forward and another pony enters the room and bows deeply.

“Your Highness, Captain Warlord is waiting to speak with you and don’t worry about food. He anticipated that you’d be starving,” The new guard says, his black mane falling over his eyes despite the helmet he was wearing and the armor he was wearing over his back did nothing to hide his light brown coat.

“Thank you… can I get your name?” Nightfire asks stepping between Silver Gleam and Broken Star and looks down at the other guard.

“My name is Bright Light. But for now I must wait to tell you of my past; the Captain is waiting for you.”

“Of course, besides if the guards from the past have been following the orders that were given to them when I was still awake, then I’ll have all of the info I’ll need of your ancestors. Especially the Captain of my Guard two centuries ago, who I’m very curious as to what a child so far down his family tree must be like,” Nightfire says and then steps up to the Guard who was still bowed before him. “You may rise, if I remember right his room should be… right to the left of mine correct?”

“Actually Sir… his room is at the end of the hallway where the rest of us have been living,” Bright Light says as he slowly rises to his hooves. “May I lead you to his room? It’d be an honor.”

“Of course, lead the way, and by the way; since we’ll be traveling together for a long time, I need you to remember your training,”

Nightfire says with a smile as he waits at the door for Bright Light to start leading the way.

“Yes Your Highness, of course,” He replies and starts leading the way with a serious look on his face with Nightfire shortly behind him. “What was it like in that stasis pod Your Highness?”

“Well… it’s a lot like a night of drinking without the drinking. I don’t remember much of what happened while I was asleep but I do remember one thing clearly; a voice, so calming, so gentle that I was lulled out of sleep and into the waking world once again,” Nightfire says and then flaps his wings slowly to stretch the muscles that had been long inactive.

“A voice sir?”

“I can’t place it. It sounded so familiar but at the same time I don’t know whose it is. A maddening factor. Though I guess I’ll find out who it is one day,” He says sticking close to Bright Light who hadn’t drifted from his path.

“I guess maybe Captain Warlord could help you with that. I mean he knows everything that goes on in this Stable without us having to tell him about it. I must say it’s fairly freaky.”

“About that, it’s a spell that was cast upon the armor he wears as a Captain of the Blackfire Guard. However I didn’t anticipate that it’s hold after all of these years.”

“That’s a spell of yours, Sir? I thought that even enchanted items lose the magic that is infused into them after a set amount of time,” He says after stepping past the hallway that would lead to the Stable door and the Mess Hall.

“I guess that it had more power to it than I originally thought. Though I have to admit that Luna was the best spellcaster between the three of us,” Nightfire says then looks down at his hooves as they continue on their path.

“I’m sorry that you were separated from your family, Sir. We all know the pain of loss and separation, and it isn’t easy to deal with.”

“It isn’t, and I’ve lived for thousands of years. You know, it’s ironic that I was the one hidden away when I was the one who made the promise not to let anything happen to them,” He says with a frown and then rolls his eyes slowly.

“That is pretty ironic, but I guess that things work out in some strange ways,” Bright Light says and then stops in front of a large metal door. “The Captain is waiting inside Your Highness.”

“Thank you, now continue with your other duties,” Nightfire says and then gives him a gentle nod and turns to face the door.

“Of course Your Highness,” He replies and bows back and then walks off down the hallway to his room.

“Well… it’s time to meet the Captain. I just hope he’s a lot like High Velocity,” Nightfire says then takes a step closer and the door opens revealing the Captain’s chambers. Slowly as he steps inside he sees a pony dressed in the finest of the armor that his guards wore while on duty. The helmet resting on the table beside the terminal was covered with silver filigree that he hadn’t noticed on the helmet before and the armor had the exact same silver filigree along the edges of the strong metal plates. “So you must be the Captain,” Nightfire says gently and slowly the Captain turns around and then quickly salutes him.

“Your Highness. I’ve done as you’ve commanded. The orders you gave my great, great grandfather have been followed to a ‘T’ and my name is-“ The Captain starts before feeling Nightfire place a hoof on his shoulder.

“Warlord, I know who you are now thanks to Silver Gleam and her brother. But what they didn’t tell me was how closely you followed the orders that I gave Captain High Velocity,” Nightfire says looking into Warlord’s dark green eyes.

“Forgive me Your Highness, but my father told me that serving on your Guard would be a challenge and that it was very formal.”

“Don’t worry about that Warlord, when it’s just you and I you may call me by my name, or whatever will be easier for you,” Nightfire says with a smile then notices Warlord’s olive green wings folded at his sides. “So you’re a Pegasus, just like the youngest Captain. May I ask your age?”

“I’m twenty two sir and will be twenty three in a few more months.”

“You’re just at High Velocity’s age when I last saw him. What do you know about him Warlord?” Nightfire asks with a smile wanting to see if he had done his homework about the past.

“Captain High Velocity was accepted into the Blackfire Guard at the age of eighteen and then became Captain after less than a year of serving and showing impeccable courage and knowledge both in and out of battle. He held the record for being the youngest Captain of any of the four types of Guard being only nineteen when he was picked by the previous Captain,” Warlord says reciting his knowledge of the previous Captain like it was from a book.

“I’m impressed,” Nightfire says with a smile and then looks at his terminal. “Do you mind if I take a look? I know you remember your orders and I’d like to get an early start with your notes, the notes your father and the other Captain’s made and then of course the other orders I gave?” Nightfire asks as he picks up the end of the cable attached to the terminal and attach it to his PipBuck and starts to download all of the files that aren’t labeled as personal. “I see that there are many personal files on here, do you mind if I see them?”

Warlord blushes a little and then shuffles his wings nervously. “Um… I’d rather you wouldn’t. Those files are incr-incredibly personal,” He says and then looks over at the couple trays that had some food on them. “Would you… like some food, sir?”

“I’d like some, thank you Captain,” Nightfire says and then starts to sit down on the cold ground but is stopped by Warlord.

“Sir please use my chair, I have a feeling that we’ll be here awhile anyhow,” He says as he quickly rolls the chair over and offers it to the Alicorn.

“Thank you Warlord, and from the look of things; it’ll be nearly an hour before the files are done transferring over. As I eat, care to tell me a little about your past?” Nightfire asks the Pegasus with an open question; free to answer t however he wanted, as he lifts an apple from one of the trays and takes a large bite out of it and moans softly. After a couple of times chewing on the fruit he swallows and then licks his lips. “That was the best apple I’ve had in my whole life!”

“I can imagine Sir. I don’t think any other pony in Equestria could survive in one of those things for as long as you did,” He says and lies on his bed. “Now should I continue my normal routine or should I just stay here and keep you company?”

“Do as you like captain, the only time I truly asked my guard to follow their training is when it really matters; like protecting me or otherwise when I give you an order.”

“I’ll stay then Sir. Besides, I’d like to hear about what Equestria was like back before the war. Besides, my father was also curious about it as well as my little sister.”

“You have a sister Warlord?” Nightfire asks looking over at the Captain of his Guard and then smiles.

“Yes Sir. My sister was born a year after me so she is next in line to be Captain of the Guard if I step down or am somehow killed in action.”

“What is she like Warlord?” Nightfire asks as he looks at the screen of his PipBuck seeing that there was still about roughly fifty-five minutes before the files would be transferred.

“She’s a wonderful mare. She’s not much of a fighter, but if she’s given no other choice then she’ll put up one hell of a fight. She’s more tech savvy than battle ready but she evens me out. I honestly can say that our mother raised us both very well.”

“Is your mother still in the Stable Warlord? I’d love to meet her,” Nightfire says now starting to wonder about Warlord’s family.

“Do you want me to call her in?” Warlord asks as he quickly stands up from his bed ready to go and find her.

“If it isn’t too much of a bother would you bring your sister with you as well? I’d be honored to meet her as well,” Nightfire says with a smile as he starts munching down on the apples and drinking down the soda that was brought for him. Shortly the door to Warlord’s room opens and two mares, one about Warlord’s age and the other about twenty years older than he was, the two mares bow respectfully to Nightfire who nods his head back in respect.

“Your Highness… it’s an honor to meet you,” They both reply and then step into Warlord’s room and stand before him as close to casual as they could.

“It’s a true honor to meet Warlord’s family. You must be their mother, am I right?”

“Yes I am Sir, my name is Peaceful Heart and it’s a real honor to finally meet you,” She replies and bows deeply to him.

“Please the honor is mine, if it wasn’t for you Warlord and Little Love wouldn’t be around. But I must assume that your daughter was named by you correct?” Nightfire asks with a smile.

“Yes she was, and I guess… because of me and my husband,” She replies and looks down at her hooves as tears dance in her eyes.

Nightfire stands up from the chair he had been sitting in and looks on at her before using his magic to lift her chin so he could look into her eyes. “He wouldn’t want you looking to the past, but to the future. You have your children, and they’ll always be there to help you through the hardest of times,” He says giving her a sympathetic smile. “I lost many friends because of the war and I know they wouldn’t want me to look back, but to the brighter future.”

She smiles and then wipes her tears with her right hoof and then nods her head slowly. “Thank you for those words Your Highness.”

“You’re welcome. Now while I’m waiting for the rest of these files to transfer over, shall we discuss what our plans are now that I’m finally awake?”

“Of course,” Little Love says stepping forward with a determined smile on her face. “As you most likely know, my brother has been keeping track of every bit of activity that’s happened in the Stable since our father died,” She begins, but takes a slow breath into her lungs to keep her nerves calm. “But we’ve also been keeping the best possible records of the broadcasts that we’ve managed to intercept. Many from a place called Tenpony Tower, and a few from Fillydelphia but those ones are nearly all static. However the best technician we have managed to clear them up and… I think you should hear this one,” She says and lifts her left leg and starts playing the recorded broadcast.
As Nightfire listens to the broadcast, Nightfire begins feeling his anger grow as the pony who was speaking; a pony by the name of Red Eye who sounded as if he was trying to manipulate them through the broadcast.

“Turn it off,” Nightfire says gritting his teeth in anger.

“Y-Yes Sir…” Little Love says and quickly turns off the broadcast.

Nightfire looks down at his PipBuck and then immediately flips to the broadcasting feature of his PipBuck and starts sending out a signal wherever he could. “The leader of Fillydelphia! I know what you’re doing out there and you better hope that we don’t meet. Otherwise I promise you that you’ll be regretting every action that you’ve made in your life. Release those under your control and live out your life in peace, or face that wrath of a free pony. The choice is yours,” Nightfire says and then cancels the broadcast with a sigh of anger.

“Do you think that this was a good idea Sir? I mean we don’t know how many are under his control or how much sway he has over what's outside the Stable,” Peaceful Heart replies gently.

“To be honest, I don’t know, but I’d rather he knows that there is somepony out here who will be opposing his campaign. I’d rather it be me that is the face of that opposition than another who probably couldn’t stand up to him. Besides, he’ll only be able to hear my voice… he has no idea what I look like or that I’m an Alicorn.”

“Well I guess that makes sense. But I don’t like making an enemy this early into the game,” She replies and looks at her children.

“I understand that as their mother you want to protect them, however as one who has never taken a life I’ll protect them as best as I can,” Nightfire says and looks down at his PipBuck and sees that the data transfer was complete. “Now that this is taken care of, I’d like to talk with all of the members of the Guard. But first, do you all remember your oath?”

“Of course Your Highness, we live our lives by that oath,” Warlord says with a nod. “I remember our dad saying it to himself all the time, reassuring himself that the oath he took was the best way to live. I remember that clearly.”

Nightfire looks at his Captain and smiles. “Recite it for me.”

Warlord looks at his mother and sister with a smile and nods to them. “Together. ‘We live our lives to protect and serve Prince Nightfire and the order that Equestria was founded by. Taking this oath onto ourselves we realize that we represent the principals that Equestria was founded by. Upon our very souls we take this oath until the day we die and even in the Eternal Heard.’”

“Good. Remember your oath and it’ll help lead your path through your life,” Nightfire says with a smile. “Little Love, I want you to go and gather the rest of the Guard, I want to speak with them all before we start our journey into what Equestria is.”

“Yes Sir. Where shall I have them all meet us?”

“Have them meet us in the Mess Hall. That’s where it’ll be easier to speak to them all at once.”

“Sir!” She says while saluting Nightfire then turns and walks out of the door after it opens for her.

“I can’t believe that we are the generations that are here for the day you return to us,”

“You’re welcome now please tell me… what your father was like.”

“He was the best father I knew of. He raised my sister and I perfectly alongside our mother. But he died a few years back.”

“I’m so sorry…” Nightfire says looking down at his hooves. “So when he died, you took his mantle as Captain?”

“Yes Sir,” Warlord says with a nod of his head.

“I’m sorry for your loss Warlord. He would’ve been proud of you on a day like this. Now let’s go and meet the rest of the guard,” Nightfire says and stands before the Captain and drapes a wing over his back to comfort him.

“Y-Yes Sir… and thank you.”

“You’re welcome Warlord,” Nightfire says as he slowly starts to the door with his Captain just behind him.

“This way Your Highness… I know it’s been a long time since you’ve walked these halls,” Warlord says as doors along the hall begin to open and then Little Love walks out of the last door of the hallway and nods her head toward her another and Nightfire as they walk toward her. “How is it going Commander?”

“Going well Captain, just spoke with the last member of the guard and she’ll meet us there.”

“That’s fantastic. Now where did our mother go?”

“Where do you think, brother? At that door again.”

“Really? I know it’s been a few years but…” Warlord says then shakes his head slowly. “If you’ll follow my sister my Prince, I’ll go and retrieve my mother.”

“No Warlord. I want to see her,” Nightfire says as he looks at his Captain.

“Yes Sir,” Warlord says and bows to him and starts leading him down the hallways of their Stable to where his mother would be.

“So how long has it been since your mother and the both of you lost him?” Nightfire asks as he follows the two siblings.

“It’s been four or so years? A few long years since we last saw our father alive, and five years since he made me Captain in his stead. I was eighteen when I took over for my father.”

Nightfire looks at the two before him and then at the PipBuck on his left foreleg. ‘Tia, Luna… I won’t make them bear the loss of losing their family anymore.’

“Are you ok Prince Nightfire?” Warlord asks looking back over his shoulder.

“Y-Yeah… just remembered something,” Nightfire says, shaking off the fact. "So ever since your father was… you know? Your mother comes down here all the time?” Nightfire asks as he feels the cool air from the water pipes and then gentle drops of the water flowing through the pipes.

“Every day since he died and sometimes even four times a day. Seems like she’ll only leave to eat, sleep, or do her duties,” Little Love says softly. “She’ll be just around the corner.”

“Of course,” Nightfire says then slowly walks past the siblings and around the corner to see Little Love sitting in front of a still functioning door. “Peaceful Heart? May I sit here?” Nightfire asks as he walks beside her.

“Y-Yes Sir… of course,” She says, wiping her eyes of fresh tears. “I’m s-sorry you’re se-seeing me like this,” She says and turns away and sobs gently.

“It’s alright Peaceful Heart,” Nightfire says and drapes a wing over her back. “I understand that you miss him and I know he’d miss you too.”

“Th-Thank you Your Highness,” She says with a smile and nuzzles into his warm fur and sighs happily as he hugs her close with a foreleg.
“Before we do go Sir,” Warlord begins and steps up to his side. “Would you like to hear about him?”

Nightfire looks at him, his sister and mother and nods. “I would. The father of my Captain must’ve been somepony interesting.”

“Mother, would you like to tell him?” Little Love says softly she walks up beside her brother.

“I… I would,” She says with a small smile as she clears her throat.

“Can you begin when you first started dating him?” Nightfire asks as she looks into her eyes.

“Of course Your Highness,” Peaceful Heart says and closes her eyes. “He and I first started talking while he was being trained by his father. During his training he asked me to spare with me as part of his training. During the sparring match, he quickly pinned me since I’m not a fighter,” She says with a blush on her face.

“So I take it that you’re one to resolve things peacefully instead of fighting?” Nightfire asks with a smile.

“Yes. Anyway, he kept leading me through forms of hoof to hoof combat and sometime during that time; his training and teaching me, I started falling for him. A few weeks later he asked me for dinner in his room and I quickly said yes. That night I was so nervous that I was sure I’d made a fool of myself but after our dinner, he said that he would love to do it again.”

“So I take it that things went perfectly?” Nightfire asks with a smile while shuffling his wings.

“Yeah. Now over the course of our dating, he finally asked me to marry him, he had already become the Captain of the Guard and a short year later, Warlord was born,” She says as Warlord looks away, his face flustered.

“From what I understand, I was a fussy foal growing up, but when I was two I was told I was going to be an older brother,” Warlord says managing to face the others with a calm face.

“Well things went well as they grew up, life in the Stable was normal, but while training with Silver Gleam’s father, his wing was broken and it never healed properly; despite all of our medical know-how,” Peaceful Heart says sadly. “He never took it well and insisted on training Warlord and Little Love as best as he could.”

“Unfortunately, while he was looking into some technical malfunction down in the reactor level, the door closed with more force than normal, ne-nearly…” Little Love says then holds a hoof to her muzzle, having to stop otherwise she’d vomit and then cry about the loss of their father.

“I’m so sorry. I… didn’t know that he died in a horrible way,” Nightfire says and pulls them all close with his magic and hugs them as they sob into his chest. “Everything’s alright. I promise.”

“Th-Thank you… Your Highness,” Little Love and Peaceful Heart say as they wipe their eyes.

“You’re welcome, now let’s go. I do need to talk with the rest of the guard,” He says and smiles down at her. “You ready?”

“Yes Sir. Let’s go,” She says as she looks back at the door as they turn and walk back to where Warlord and his sister were. “Come on you two, let’s not keep them all waiting.”

“Yes mom, are you feeling better?” Her daughter asks as she looks into her eyes.

“I’m feeling loads better. It seems our Prince has a way with words,” She says and gives him a wink that he returns with a smile.

“Well… if you’ll follow me Your Highness, we can talk with the others.”

“Before I do, let me actually put on my armored barding and my weapons,” Nightfire says and looks at his naked body, his blue fur seeming to almost blend into the dull gray of the Stable’s walls. “Please excuse my being a little unprepared,” He says as they walk back to his room, were the stasis pod was. “You know, after being stuck inside that thing for over two hundred years, you’d think I’d never want to go anywhere near it,” Nightfire jokes as the door to his room slides open and he steps inside while his horn glows brightly and a drawer opened and a folded set of armored Stable barding and as he unfolds it and starts sliding it on, he realizes that there was two things there that he hadn’t seen there before. “What are these?”

“That’s… a picture of you and your sisters?” Little Love, says while looking down at the picture and sees what Celestia and Luna looked like about midway through the war.

“I remember that day; it was a few years after the attempt at Celestia’s life,” Nightfire says, remembering how that had affected her over the years.

“I remember reading about that. Big Macintosh, the hero of Shattered Hoof Ridge. He jumped in front of a bullet that was meant to kill Princess Celestia and the bullet ended up piercing his own heart. With his death, the war effort in Equestria skyrocketed.”

“It was his death that set off a chain of actions: Celestia stepping down and letting our sister Luna sit in the throne, the Zebra’s believing that we were under Nightmare Moon’s control, and that caused them to resort to using Megaspells, and our retaliation with our own. Unfortunately, they targeted the Pegasus city Cloudsdale and that forced the Pegasi to abandon us and they then sealed the sky with a constant cloud cover,” Nightfire says and then sighs and slips the picture out of the frame, folds it up and slips it into his saddlebags.

“Sir? What are these?” Warlord asks as he pulls out two statuettes, one looking like Luna, the other like Celestia. “They look like your sisters.”

“Yeah they do. I wonder who made them,” Nightfire asks as he lifts the statues and looks at them closely. “Looks just like them, every detail is flawless,” Nightfire says as he turns the statues around and looks into the eyes of them. “Even their eyes have the same shine.”

“Strange, wonder who could’ve made them for you,” Warlord’s sister says as she looks at them from the side. “What’s written there on the base?” She asks as she looks where some words where just under their front hooves.

“Looks like they say ‘Understand the Night’ and 'Appreciate the Day’,” Little Love says as she looks closely at them.

“It is but I’m sure I’ll figure out who made them one day,” Nightfire says and slides the statues into his saddlebags, one of the left and one on the right and suddenly he felt some of his old spell flow back into his mind, making him feel even more energized than before. “Whatever was done to them, I feel… stronger than ever.”

“That is wired,” Warlord says as he sits in the chair that was connected to the desk in his room. “Should you check the terminal here for anything?”

“Maybe I should, considering I haven’t checked it already,” Nightfire says as he walks over to the desk as Warlord steps aside so his charge could take the seat and access his own terminal. As Nightfire starts typing with ease, magic already being easier than using his hooves, he finds a few old notes, ones that dated before the war, and even one that he didn’t recognize. Nightfire quickly pulled out the access tool from his desk and plugged his PipBuck into the terminal and downloaded the files from it and starts playing the mysterious audio file labeled ‘Prince Nightfire’s eyes only.’

Prince Nightfire,
We must apologize, we had never intended for you or your family to be separated. Everything that happened could’ve been avoided if your sister’s had let you intervene during the war. Perhaps… just perhaps that’s just wishful thinking, but we’d wish that we had more chances to talk. We understand that you might not remember us but we will treasure all the time that we had spent together, despite how little it was in the long haul.

Good luck in what kind of world you awaken to and may the sun and moon guide you safely.

Sincerely,

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity of the Ministries of Wartime Tech, Morale, Awesome, Peace, Arcane Science, and Image.

Nightfire sits in silence for a moment, the voices seeming to be from each of them, however when the audio file was created was a mystery.

“Those… were the voices of the Ministry Mares, right?” Warlord asks looking at Nightfire’s custom built PipBuck.

“Yes… and I… I admit that I had only barely overseen their projects, however Twilight Sparkle and I did but heads because of one of her projects,” Nightfire replies and smiles as he replays the file.

“Well… it really does seem that each of them looked at you highly. Do you think that they’d still think the same if they were alive today?” Little Love says and wipes her eye of a stray tear.

“I think so, I do remember talking with Rainbow Dash a few hours before I was first taken to this Stable,” Nightfire says with a small grin and looks back at the three standing behind him. “She may have been a stubborn mare, but she was indeed loyal to her friends.”

“Like how Captain High Velocity was to you right?” Warlord asks with a smile.

“Yes. But I would even go as far to say that she was even more loyal than him. After all she did bear the Element of Loyalty,” Nightfire says as he gets onto his hooves and flaps his wings gently. “Now let’s go and get my weapons then meet with the guard then we are starting our journey.”

The three ponies standing before him snap into a solid stance and then salute him. “Yes Sir!”

***Moments Later, Inside the mess hall***

“Everypony!” Nightfire says as he enters the room, Captain Warlord on his left with his sister and their mother to his right. The second his voice was heard, the just over two dozen guards turned and quickly snapped into attention.

Nightfire smiles and looks over all of the ponies standing before him, all dressed in armored stable barding and a set of the armor that Nightfire remembered the Guard he had seen over 200 years ago wearing causing a smile to creep onto his lips. “Now I do know you all have at least guarded the door to my room at least once, so you all know who I am. I am Prince Nightfire of Equestria. You all stand before me because your ancestors served in the Blackfire Guard when we were locked in this Stable. I understand that you’ve known this place to be your home all your lives, you’ve lived, you’ve trained, you’ve probably loved, and some have given all they are inside this very place. Now I know that this is asking a lot out of you, but I ask you to follow me as we see what this unknown world has to offer us.”

Many of the guard remained stoned faced, except for two mares near the back of the group. “But Your Highness, shouldn’t we remain in the Stable for a few more days?”

“Why is that?” Nightfire asks as he looks at a pony near the middle of the group.

“I think that since you’ve only just gotten out of that stasis pod, we should give you some time to recover and strengthen your body and magic.”

“I agree with her completely,” Warlord says looking up to Nightfire.

“I agree with you as well Warlord,” Nightfire says as he smiles.

“I have one question Your Highness, though probably will make more sense later on,” A stallion near the front says, a heavy rocket launcher strapped across his back, his light brown mane just barely covering his dark brown eyes. “What should happen to us should we die protecting you or our own lives or the life of a friend?”

“Should that come to pass, I will engrave your Cutie Mark into the handle of each of my guns,” Nightfire says lifting his .44 revolver with scope, .357 revolver and his own sniper rifle. “And when Equestria is once again the beautiful nation I knew it was, I shall erect a memorial for you and all of the family of yours that served to keep us all safe.”

“I understand.”

“Any other questions for now?” Little Love asks while looking over the ponies before them.

After a couple moments of silence Nightfire nods and turns back to the door of the mess hall. “Then let us be off. In three days it’s time that we learn of what the world has become. Gather what of your personal affects you and whatever should prove useful to us and meet Captain Warlord, Lieutenant Little Love and Commander Peaceful Heart by the Stable door in three days.”

“Sir, Yes Sir!” The current members of the Blackfire Guard say as they salute him and march out of the room to gather items that they’d want from their room, or from what room they’d come across.

“Do you three have everything you need?” Nightfire asks as he looks up at the sign that would lead him to the Stable door.

“Yes Sir,” Warlord and his sister says and their mother shakes her head slowly.

“Not entirely Your Highness. I need to get one thing that their father gave me when we became the married couple we were,” She says as she shuffles her wings gently.

“Alright, but I must ask you to not waste time and gather what you will need out there,” Nightfire says as he starts to walks toward the entrance of the Stable, Warlord and his sister in tow.

“Yes Your Highness,” She says with a quick bow and turns to rush to her room.

Once Nightfire, Warlord and his sister reach the massive door that separated them all from what awaited for them just on the other side. As Nightfire looks at the door, he notices something that he hadn’t before, a symbol, one that was in a book that he had read a long time ago, Celestia raising the sun with the sun just overhead and Luna below her and the moon just over her head. “Was that symbol always there?”

“No it wasn’t, I believe that my grandmother drew it while she was young,” Warlord says with a smile, remembering when he was only a foal as she drew it.

“Really?”

“Yeah, she spent hours on it a day until it was finally done,” Little Love says with a smile.

“She made it look like the image from the Elements of Harmony Reference Guide,” Nightfire says remembering the book that Twilight had read to find out about the legendary artifacts.

“Yes, that’s a book that we have in the library, along with a few books about everything we’d ever need,” Little Love says as she looks at her brother as Nightfire steps down the stairs and approaches the door and reaches out and slides a hoof against the cool steel door. As Nightfire looks at the door, Warlord, Little Love and Peaceful Heart look up at the symbol with him.

“Your Highness… let’s get you back to your room, I’m sure you have to be somewhat exhausted,” Warlord says looking at Nightfire.

“Of course Warlord, now I do hope that I won’t have to stay in the same room that I’d been in before,” Nightfire says as he turns away from the Stable door. “Please lead the way.”

“Follow me Your Highness,” Peaceful Heart says with a smile as she takes the lead, walking back into the hallways of the Stable with Warlord and Little Love walking beside him. Their mother stops before a door and then the door slowly opens revealing a still simple room with a large bed that had deep blue sheets. “This will be your room so you can rest,” She says as she steps inside and to the side so he can enter.

“This room is nice. Better than that room that I stayed in for the last 200 years,” Nightfire says with a smile. “I’m going to lie down, but I would like one of you three to stay here as make sure I don’t push myself. I still need to practice magic.”

“I’ll stay with you Your Highness,” Little Love says, her horn sparking a little with eagerness.

“A little eager, sis?” Warlord asks with a chuckle.

“What? I am eager to learn from our Prince,” She says gently.

“Well don’t push him too far and be careful ok?” Peaceful Heart asks her daughter.

“I won’t mom,” She says and turns back to Nightfire as he climbs into the bed and lies on his stomach.

“Alright well Warlord and I are going to pack some of our things before we leave.”

“See you tomorrow Your Highness,” Warlord says with a smile as they turn and walk out of the room as the door closes behind them.

“So Little Love… would you like to learn some magic from me?” Nightfire asks as his horn glows and pulls the blankets over his back.

“Yes I would Sir,” She says with a smile. “So what will I be learning first?”

Nightfire smiles and shuffles his wings under the sheets. “First I want to see how much magic ability you have.”

***Three days later***

Nightfire and the members of his guard look up at the door of the Stable that had kept them safe from the unknown world as Warlord walks up to Nightfire’s side; the Alicorn Prince having gained most of his magical strength back and his physical abilities. “Your Highness, it’s time.” The members of the guard behind them shuffling on their hooves, all of the supplies that they’d need. Many of them nervous about leaving the Stable that they’d called home for their lives.

“It’s time,” Nightfire says and walks back to the control panel and looks at the screen of the terminal. After pressing a few keys the terminal asks for the password to open the Stable door and without hesitation Nightfire enters the word ‘Harmony,’ and pulls the lever on the control panel.

Suddenly yellow lights beside the massive steel door begin flashing as a small alarm sounds, and a large iron arm slides into place and pulls the door free of its seal. The door then slowly is rolled to the side revealing the inside of the cave, exposing them all to air that they hadn’t touched in their lives yet. Nightfire takes a deep breath and starts walking back down the stair to the open door and then looks back inside, at his guard and the home that they had all known their whole lives. “Let’s go,” Nightfire says as he starts walking out of the Stable, with the members of his guard flowing behind him.

Once they approached the end of the cave, they are greeted with the dull glare of the sun behind thick layers of clouds. “Anypony a Pegasus?” Nightfire asks jokingly as he looks back and smiles.

Several ponies lift a hoof high enough to be seen and give a small grin of their own. “Why do you ask Your Highness?” A pony with a couple rifles dangling from her side asks.

“Just making sure how many were Pegasi. I have a feeling I may need to make a move against the Pegasi who are keeping the sun to themselves.”

Several of the ponies look up at the cloud filled sky and nod. “We’ll follow you till the end.”

“Thank you, now let us keep going, Canterlot is a long way away from where we are now,” Nightfire says with a grin and looks over the horizon looking to were his old home was.

“Sir, Yes Sir!” They all salute him and start walking with him leading the group down the mountain. About halfway down the curvy mountain trail, several dots appear on their E.F.S. and they all start looking around before Nightfire looks up and discreetly drew his .44 and keeps it hidden under his wing.

“Everypony be ready, but don’t make it look obvious,” Nightfire says quickly and turns back to face the Pegasi that were flying down from a small break in the clouds, armed with some nasty looking power armor, energy weapons strapped to their sides by some form of saddle like device.

The Pegasi make their way toward Nightfire and his guard and land a couple yards away downhill from them, already a tactical mistake. One Pegasus steps forward, small details on the armor indicating that he was highly decorated unlike the others who wore basic armor. “Who are you all and where have you all been hiding?”

Nightfire looks back at his guard and then steps forward, keeping his voice collected and even. “Does it matter where we have been? But if you’re looking for an honest answer we came from a Stable up near the top of the mountain.”

“A Stable? Up there? Ridicules!” He says and laughs, causing the others behind him to start as well.

“Enough!” Warlord says as he walks up beside Nightfire. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had built that Stable to keep their older brother safe, and I will not tolerate you mocking his family,” Warlord says then Nightfire lays a hoof on Warlord’s shoulder.

“Peace my Captain,” Nightfire says and looks back at the guard and leans closer and whispers into his ear. “I want you to target their wings and weapons, if we can knock them out then we won’t face too much opposition should things not go as I plan.”

“Yes Sir,” Warlord says and turns around and walks back to the others and starts whispering to the others.

“Forgive my Captain, he’s lived by my guard’s code his whole life,” Nightfire says with a smile as he addresses the ponies standing before him.

“Of course,” He says and shuffles his wings. “Now to business, I’m with the Enclave and we were sent when we got confirmation that massive surge of electricity and pinpointed it to this mountain, and they sent us to investigate the cause.”

“So… what you’re telling me is that the Enclave sent you to look into that Stable?” Nightfire asks, his voice still cool.

“You know, I had a feeling that there was at the very most a hundred ponies in there but I was sorely mistaken,” He says while pulling out a holotape and tosses it to Nightfire, keeping his surprise at seeing an Alicorn to a minimal.

“What is this?” Nightfire asks as he looks over the item in his magic aura.

“It’s a holotape, connect it to your PipBuck and you can hear the message my superiors want to deliver.”

Nightfire pulls out a wire and connects the holotape to his PipBuck and starts downloading the file from the case. “Before I play it, I want you to know, I won’t give up that Stable to anypony. I’ve lived in it for over 200 years and my sister’s made it specifically to keep me safe for Equestria’s future.”

“I understand,” He says and turns back and starts a conversation with the others who are traveling with him.

Nightfire looks at his PipBuck and then presses a button and starts the audio message. “Greetings those who have peeked our curiosity. We understand that you might be hesitant to give up such a viable place to us but let me assure that we of the Enclave will make it entirely worth your while. If you’re willing to give up such a viable place for the Enclave to expand our operations we’ll continue to feed you any form of information to you and whoever should be with you. Please consider your option carefully, since this is a once in a lifetime offer."

“You expect me to give up that last thing my sister’s gave me just so you can desecrate it? I’m sorry but my family means more to me than anything, and you cannot have this Stable,” Nightfire says, his ears standing straight up as he stomps a hoof as he looks at the Enclave solders before him. “Try and take it from me and I won’t hesitate to defend it.”

The Enclave Captain shakes his head with a sigh. “So unfortunate. And here we are thinking that’d you give it up so willingly. Too bad.”
Nightfire quickly sees the dots showing the soldiers turn red, and then throws up his best magical shield, his horn glowing brightly and pulls out his .44 magnum and enters S.A.T’s and targets the Captain’s wings, not wishing to go for a killing shot and activates the spell, the five shots he’d set fire off like a Megaspell going off in his ear, the bullets tearing into the wings as the Guard behind Nightfire open fire at the Enclave, their bullets taking chunks out of their armor, and exposed flesh. After a brief firefight the bullets from the Enclave’s own machine guns bouncing off Nightfire’s shield, some managing to shoot past it and into the group of Blackfire Guards. Nightfire lowers his shield, feeling that the fight was done only to feel a stray bullet tear into his right shoulder causing him to drop onto his left knee.

“Prince Nightfire’s hit!” The medic of the Blackfire Guard calls out and rushes forward already with healing supplies in his magic aura. “Are you alright your Highness?” He asks as he examines the wound and sees the exit wound, not much bigger than a bit of pre-war money as he pulls the cork of healing potion and lifts it to Nightfire’s lips.

The dark blue Alicorn tilts his head back and gulps down the potion and after swallowing the whole bottle he shakes his head at the horrible aftertaste. “Ta-Tastes horrible. Is everypony alright?”

“One down, but… it’s a fatal shot,” Warlord says as he looks toward Nightfire and their medic.

“Let me see him,” Nightfire says, his breath shaky, not only from the initial pain of the gunshot but now from the pain of losing one of his own guard so early into their journey. As Nightfire is lead over by the medic, Nightfire sees one of their comrades, lying in a growing pool of blood, a deep groove from where the bullet had torn through his neck. “No… not now,” Nightfire says and pulls out a roll of healing bandages in hopes of saving him. As Nightfire begins to tear it, the guard coughs and holds a weak hoof against Nightfire’s hoof.

“D-Don’t…” He says weakly, blood dripping from his muzzle. “I kn-know you wan-want to sa-save me but…” He stops and coughs again, blood shooting from his muzzle like a fine mist. “I di-did what I ne-needed,” He says with a weak smile as another holds him close, her tears sliding down her cheeks. “I kn-know I pro-promised to ke-keep you safe… but I can’t do it anymore. Keep Nightfire safe… he is, and always has been what I dreamed of pro-protecting," He says looking into the mare's eyes sadly then turns back to meet Nightfire's eyes. "Y-Your Highness… you can-can’t save everypony, please understa-understand that…” He says and weakly uses his magic to take out his pistol. “Please… give me this… I wa-want to die at your hoof.”

Nightfire looks down at him shocked and takes a deep breath to try and steady his magic and takes hold of the pistol and holds it under his head. “T-Tell me your name…” Nightfire says as his magic starts to pull back on the trigger.

“My na-name is… Gallant Brawl,” He says and locks eyes with Nightfire and nods then closes his eyes as the sound of another gunshot fills the air for a moment then all is still. Nightfire backs away, dropping the gun and what he had in his magic as he looks down at the pony he had to put down.

“I wa-want him to be gi-given the Royal Guards burial; burn his body,” Nightfire says and then looks over at the one member of the Enclave, the Captain who was looking at his wings in despair. “I’ll be back,” Nightfire says and walks over to the Captain and picks him up with magic and vanishes in a flash of light.

***Inside the Stable entrance***

Nightfire slams the Captain of the Enclave against the steel wall angrily with his magic and then slams a hoof down on his injured wing making him scream out. “You! Damn! Foal!” Nightfire says as he kicks the Captain in the stomach, knocking the breath from his lungs and then pulls out his .44 revolver and aims it at the Pegasus before his, a bleeding and broken mess. “I never took a life without reason and I never in my whole life taken the life of one who I called friend!”

The Pegasus chuckles weakly and looks up into Nightfire’s eyes. “Y-You don’t get it… the Wasteland destroys everything inside it,” He says, struggling to breathe and stares down the barrel of the revolver without fear.

Nightfire closes his eyes and lowers his revolver before the glow around his horn intensifies and then shapes around the Enclave ponies front leg and applies pressure. “Shut up!”

“Wh-Why? Bec-Because you know it t-to be true?” The Enclave Pegasus says with a wince of pain then cries out as Nightfire applies more than enough pressure to break his legs.

“I’ve heard enough! Either you tell me what the Enclave want this Stable for or I’ll tear that armor off and then you’ll feel the true wrath of an Alicorn,” Nightfire says spreading his wings widely and stares down at the Pegasus who was holding his broken leg with his free one.

“Wh-Why should I?”

“Because if you do I’ll let you live, if not then I’ll have to take another life,” Nightfire says and holsters his weapon and then folds his wings.

“Do wh-what you have to and be d-done with it,” He says and lies his head on the ground and holds up the foreleg with a PipBuck on it. “It hol-holds all of the da-data that the Enclave has given me.”

“Gladly,” Nightfire says as he takes out the same tool he’d used so many times before already and starts copying the files from the other PipBuck. “Five minutes, perfect,” Nightfire says and rolls his eyes. “Tell me, who is the pony in charge of your unit?”

“His name is… Com-Commander Solar Flare.”

“Solar Flare? You tell him that if he has the guts, he’ll come and find me himself,” Nightfire says then looks at his PipBuck and sees that there is only a minute left before the data was copied. “And also, if you need to contact your superiors, your PipBuck should have a transmitter built into it, connect to the Stable and then send them a message to come and get you.”

“Wh-Why should I? Th-They’ll be here to get me soon…” He says and grins before Nightfire moves the Enclave pony’s broken hoof around and watches as he cries out in pain.

“Think what you will about me, but I don’t like killing unless there is real reason behind it,” Nightfire says and then slowly pulls the plug from the other PipBuck and puts the tool back into his saddlebags. “Now I’m going to drag you out and you’re never going to try and enter this Stable or I’ll personally send you to Tartarus,” Nightfire says as he picks the Pegasi up with his magic and then starts walking out of the Stable and then as they exit the main door Nightfire flips the switch and watches as the door closes with a loud scrap of steel against steel. Nightfire then throws the Pegasi against the wall and turns back to the switch and starts recoding the Stable door. “You’ll never get inside without the password and it’s something that you’ll never think of.”

“We-We’ll crack it even-eventually,” The Pegasus says and cradles his broken foreleg to his body.

“I don’t think you will, now pray that we never meet again,” Nightfire says and turns and walks away from the pony and then teleports back to the members of his guard, who were sitting around the pyre that they’d made for their fallen brother in arms. “I never thought I’d go to another funeral,” Nightfire says softly as he sheds a tear in sorrow.

After a few moments of watching the burning pyre, Nightfire approaches the head of the group and bows his head to the burning pyre. “So what are we going to do now Sir?” Warlord asks with a concerned look.

“We’re still going to Canterlot, but we’re going to have to be extra careful. I will not lose another one of you.”

Warlord looks at the pyre and remembers what Gallant Brawl had said. “Remember Sir, you can’t keep us all alive.”

“I know, now let’s go,” He says and turns away from the pyre and looks out toward Canterlot. “I’m coming home my sisters. I’m coming home.”

Footnote; Level up!
New perk added: “Duty. Honor. Royalty” For each member of your guard that passes away, or any defender of the crown, their names are etched into your gun, making it and your magic spells slightly more powerful.

The Wasteland

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Bring me to life, bring me the starlight. Bring me the sun, the moon, release the stars tonight

After dealing with the Enclave ponies who had confronted Nightfire and his own Guard fresh out of the Stable that his sister’s had built for him to keep him safe. Already losing one of their own within those minutes outside the Stable. The loss of Gallant Brawl and the injuries of many more of them, thankfully they were minor injuries. ‘They got hurt protecting me,’ Nightfire says as he looks back over his shoulder at the disheartened faces of his guard. ‘Just like Big Mac died for Celestia now Gallant Brawl did the same for me. This is why I didn’t want a guard like Luna’s or Celestia’s, seeing them all slowly dwindle away before my eyes as I continue living on,’ Nightfire thinks to himself as he looks at Warlord and Little Love, their mother close to them, locked in a private conversation. “Everypony,” Nightfire says as he comes to a stop just as they reach the bottom of the mountain. “I know that so early into the game we’ve lost one of our own, but we must keep going for his sake. Otherwise his life’s ambition will have been for nothing. From this day forth, any Enclave ponies we come across we at least try to negotiate with before taking action. He says turning back to face the remaining twenty seven guards. “If negotiations don’t work, then go for the kill shots.”

The Blackfire Guard nod, still feeling the loss of one of their friends and then the one who had been crying over him starts. “But what if we’re faced with the exact same situation?” She asks as tears stream down her cheeks.

Nightfire turns around and walks up to her and places a hoof on her left shoulder, right over her heart. “This spot was where Big Mac was shot when he died protecting my sister. My sister never let it go and she stepped down from the throne only to pass it along to our little sister. When I heard of Mac’s death, I personally set up the funds for his funeral. Applejack and their family all thanked me and I only said I was doing the right thing. All of you,” Nightfire says and then lifts her chin and looks into her eyes. “I want to see the same dedication that Big Mac had to keep our great kingdom safe. He may have died, but his death boosted our morale tenfold.”

“But what does that have to do with Gallant Brawl’s sacrifice?” She asks looking into Nightfire’s eyes sadly.

“He reminded me of Big Mac, in many ways. His death has hit us all hard, but it will boost our morale so much that we’ll be the most feared beings in this twisted Equestria!” Nightfire says, allowing his voice to ring out so that he was heard by all of the remaining members of the guard. “Never forget the past or what it teaches you,” Nightfire says softly, leaning down to look the mare eye to eye. “He did what he did to make sure the past I knew wouldn’t die. So don’t give up now.”

The mare named Night Star gives a small smile and then wipes her eyes slowly with a foreleg and then scoffs a little. “If you’re not going to give up… then neither will I.”

“That’s the spirit! Now let’s show the Wasteland that we’re not one to be beaten so easily!” Nightfire says as he flaps his wings to look down at his guard who started cheering loudly. ‘Just like the Guard from 200 years ago. Same spirit, but different ponies,’ Nightfire thinks to himself as he slowly descends back to the ground. “Now since we need to head toward Canterlot going north is going to be our best bet.”

“Why are we heading to Canterlot Your Majesty?” Night Star, the mare who had been crying her eyes out over the loss of Gallant Brawl asks while turning her attention to the north.

“Because I need to find my sisters. And the last place I saw them was my old home; Canterlot. One of the old homes of my family.”

“One of? You mean that you and your sister’s lived in another place aside from Canterlot?”

“That is correct. Can anypony tell me where else we lived?” Nightfire asks turning to his guard and gives a smile wondering who would answer first.

“That would be the castle in the Everfree Forest. That aside from Canterlot was where you and your two sisters lived,” A medium built mare says as she looks up into Nightfire’s eyes with a smile plastered on her face. Her light blue eyes looking into his while a gentle wind swept through the base of the mountain and blew their manes all astray. Her long black mane covering her right eye, adding to the mystery she had around her.

“That is correct, what might your name be?” Nightfire asks as he walks up to her and sees that she was a normal earth pony but she had no weapons aside from a single pistol and some gauntlets that were strapped around her four hooves.

“My name is Close Combat Your Majesty. By my name I’m sure you can guess what I specialize in yes?” She asks with a grin, before slowly looking to the top of the mountain.

“I know it’s hard to leave the place you’ve called home all of your life, but we must move on,” Nightfire says as he turns away from the others and looks to the direction of their first destination.

“You heard Prince Nightfire! Let’s move out!” Warlord and Little love both call out to the others, putting on stern looks while deep inside they were hurting from the loss of a friend.

As the group began moving, the mountain and their home inside it slowly becoming a dot on the horizon Nightfire looks down at his Pip-Buck and starts flipping through frequencies before suddenly some music started filling their ears. “This is quite wonderful, and it sounds like something I should know,” Nightfire says as he listens to each lyric that was sang. The style and the way the mare vocalized seemed as if she was singing as if she lived through some tragedy.

“It’s a beautiful song, but do you know who sings it?” Peaceful Heart asks as she and her two children stay close to him.

“If my memory is correct, that mare is one who was alive during and even before the war; Sapphire Shores. The Pony of Pop as she was rightfully called, her music was not my taste but it was good enough for Equestria.”

“What was your taste in music Your Highness?” Warlord asks as he looks at Nightfire with a raised eye brow as the music continues playing.

“My taste is a little dated, but I preferred string music. Violins, cello and acoustic guitar. I was even good at playing the violin, however during the war my playing became sorrowful,” Nightfire replies and just as his horn flares to change the station before the song comes to an end and then holds himself back for a moment. Suddenly a voice sounds on the station.

“Howdy my little ponies and this is DJ PON3 and welcome to your daily dose of Wasteland news and music,” The voice obviously belonging to a stallion but what Nightfire latched on to is how cheery he sounded despite the Wasteland. “Now what’s on the announcements today? Well first thing is watch out for any Slavers out there unless you’re looking to either work for Red Eye or become one of his slaves. Speakin’ of the Fillydelphia area, if you plan on heading out that way be very cautious of Hellhounds. Nastiest things to ever exist in the Wasteland, aside from those nasty Alicorns but hey; what are the odds of running into either of them? Not likely but with the Wasteland being the way it is to ponies and griffons alike who knows anymore,” DJ PON3 says then pauses for a moment. “Anyway to some recent news. A little birdy told me that a Stable Dweller had taken the opportunity to clean out Ponyville’s Raider problem for the time being, little old her verses a towns worth of blood-thirsty Raiders. I’ll give that mare some props for doing that fresh out of the Stable. Keep it up, and with that I think it’s time to get back to the music of the Wasteland. Here’s a classic for you all, another from Sapphire Shores,” He says then the song begins playing before Nightfire turned off the broadcast with bewilderment on his face.

“Did… he just say Alicorns?” Warlord asks looking at Nightfire’s PipBuck with wide eyes.

“Couldn’t be… could it? Other Alicorns?” Peaceful Heart asks as she looks down at the ground with uncertainty in her eyes.

“I don’t think I can believe it either,” Nightfire admits then looks down at his PipBuck. “Could he have been talking about Celestia and Luna? But I’m sure by now somepony here would realize they meant good.”

“I don’t think that he was talking about your sisters…” The guard who had two swords on her back says softly. “The way he was talking, there must be some other kind of Alicorns in the Wasteland.”

“If you really think so,” Nightfire says then looks at her and remembers those two blades. “If I remember right, those are the two blades of Captain High Velocity’s rival right?”

“Yes Sir, these are the blades of Golden Disc,” She replies with a smile.

“May I see them?” Nightfire asks as his horn begins glowing softly.

“Of course Your Highness,” She says and bows to him to allow the swords to be pulled from their sheathes silently.

“I’m surprised these blades held out as long as they have,” Nightfire says and then examines the blades closely. “Still look as sharp as ever,” Nightfire says as he shivers softly remembering the grueling use that those two blades had back before the end of the Great War.

“Thank you Sir. I’ve taken as great of care of them as my mother had before me,” She says with a smile on her face as Nightfire slides them back into the sheathes strapped across her back.

“You know, High Velocity’s rival was one of the most skilled ponies with a blade that I have ever trained. Luna was the only one able to outmatch me,” Nightfire replies and then his ears perk up. “Do you hear that?”

“What is it Sir?” Warlord asks as he looks around with his sister and his mother while the others start circling around Nightfire protectively.

“Sounds like… music?” Nightfire says as he strains his ears, the music seeming to get closer and closer. “Everypony wait here understood? I’ll check it out myself.”

“Of course Sir,” The ponies of his guards say and clear a path for him as he starts walking toward the source of the music with his sniper rifle starting to lift off of his back with his magic. As Nightfire clears the circle of guards he lifts it up to his face and looks through the scope trying to see where it might be coming from.

‘Where are you?’ Nightfire asks as he scans the area with his rifle and then spots something floating along as if it was carried by a strong breeze. Nightfire grins and then throws the rifle back over his back and secures the strap keeping it firmly in place. “Wait here, I think I can deal with this alone.”

Warlord and his mother and sister look between each other and then turn back to him and nod slowly.

“I won’t be long,” Nightfire says as he spreads his wings and flaps them and jumps into the air and glides to the shape that he had seen through the scope of his rifle. “That had to be a Sprite Bot, nothing else in the world it could’ve been,” Nightfire says as he glides and scans the area for it and sees a bright light in the distance not too far from where he had first seen it and angles his wings so that he would be put onto a straight path. After landing where he saw the light he sees the bot still floating in place and finally was able to take in the features it had; mechanical wings that looked frozen in place, a few antenna sweeping back over from the front to a few inches behind it. As Nightfire listens to the music that had been playing that once up close he recognized as some kind of music that Pinkie Pie played before the war and during it at some of the parties she planned.

As he listens to the music it begins turning to static and a voice takes its place. “Hello? Who are you?” The bot seems to ask while facing Nightfire, bobbing slightly. The voice was robotic but seemed as if who was asking the question was… meaningful.

“Hello, who are you?” Nightfire asks wondering if whoever was controlling it could actually see him.

“Oh, there you are,” The voice says as the bot turns more to face him. “So you must be fresh out of a Stable or something the look that clean.”

“That’s because I am. Only left it a few hours ago,” Nightfire says and then looks back to where the mountain that his Stable had been built into.

“Interesting, so care to tell me what your plans are? After all one wouldn’t leave their Stable unless something important is waiting for them out here, unless you’re not sure of what it is that you’re out here for,” The voice says as if trying to test the pony before it.

“I’m out here to find my sisters, nothing more and nothing less. If others require my help then I will give it to the best of my ability and maybe I can help this twisted Equestria back onto the light that it had before the war,” Nightfire says with steel in his voice, his resolve not wavering in the slightest.

“Your sisters?” The bot asks as it sways a little from side to side. “You’re an Alicorn… wait a second! Nightfire? Prince Nightfire?!” The voice asks surprised and shocked.

“How do you know that name?” Nightfire asks as he glares at it, keeping his shock hidden beneath an expressionless face despite his tone nearly giving him away.

“You don’t remember me do you?” The voice asks as the bot stops in front of his face.

“How would I recognize you behind the bot? I don’t claim to know who you are and I don’t claim to be Nightfire.”

“It’s me Watcher, or the name you might know me better for; Spike.”

“Spike? As in Twilight Sparkle’s assistant, the little dragon that she raised from an egg?” The Alicorn asks with a little doubt in his voice. “Can you prove that you really are who you say you are?”

“Twilight Sparkle was the Ministry mare of The Ministry of Arcane Science and the wielder of the Element of Magic and Princess Celestia’s prized pupil,” The dragon says telling Nightfire what only a select few would know.

“So… you really are Spike. I must say that I never thought I’d hear your voice again. I am Nightfire, I just wanted to make sure that you were somepony I could trust.”

“I don’t blame you for that Nightfire, and it is good to hear your voice again after all of these years. Celestia and Luna wouldn’t tell me or the Ministry mares where you had gone,” Spike says gently. “There is something Twilight told me to tell you if we ever met again. Would you like to hear it?”

Nightfire hesitates for a moment and then nods. “Of course I would.”

“She told me to tell you that in her words, ‘I believe in you and know that no matter what happens you’ll do what’s best for Equestria no matter how bad things get.’”

“She really believed in me that much?” Nightfire asks softly as he looks toward Canterlot.

“More than I think she ever said aloud,” Spike replies softly. “You know, I still think that she looked up to you and your sister’s more than even her own family.”

“That’s a surprise. Despite me telling her that her one project to create more Alicorns was a mistake?”

“Even despite that, she always wanted to prove she was a good pony, and if it meant ending that war sooner, I knew she’d follow through. Doesn’t help that she was perfectionist. Anything she set her mind to, even if it was a dark matter, she’d work at it till she knew everything there was to know about it.”

“Don’t I know it, that was I think the only time she and I bumped heads over something so changing,” Nightfire says then chuckles softly. “Oh Twilight, you silly foal…”

“So what is your current path? Where is this journey of yours leading you Nightfire?” Spike asks through the bot that digitized his voice.

“For now it’s to find my two sisters like I promised them when they sent me to hide in my Stable. For now my path,” Nightfire says and looks down at his PipBuck and sighs softly. “Is taking me straight to our two old homes, the Castle of the Pony Sisters and Canterlot Castle.”

“Are you crazy!?” Spike asks with shock. “Don’t you know what happened with Canterlot or the Everfree Forest? Going into those places are death wishes!”

“Then explain to me what I’m walking into, with each place. Otherwise nothing you can say is going to sway my path,” Nightfire says looking up from the PipBuck locked firmly around his left foreleg. “Canterlot and the Everfree castle were at one point my home.”

“To be honest… the Everfree Forest did avoid any Megaspell targeting from the Zebra, but the ambient radiation from Ponyville has changed so many plants and animals inside those trees,” Spike begins after remaining silent for a short while. “Canterlot… wa-BZZZ!” The bot then starts playing the music it had and started to fly off, bouncing almost as if it was in tune to the music.

“Dammit Spike…” Nightfire curses and watches the bot fly away till it was out of his sight before turning around and starts walking to his guard who must’ve gotten antsy while waiting for him, maybe even spying on the conversation with the scope of one of their rifles. “Well at least I know Spike’s alright,” He says softly aloud and then looks at the map of his PipBuck and sees a new icon pop up for a mountain a few days travel to the east of Canterlot and the Everfree Forest. “Thanks Spike, no wonder you were Twilight’s assistant.”

***Back with the Guards***

“What was that Sir?” Peaceful Heart asks as Nightfire walks up to them with a small smirk on his lips.

“It… was just an old friend,” Nightfire says after a moment to consider his response.

“Who was it Sir?” Warlord asks gently, his wings folded against his sides firmly, shuffling a little with the effort of keeping clam.

“Twilight’s assistant, Watcher.”

“Who in the sun and moon’s name is Watcher?” Night Star asks, she having taken her place near the edge of the group, separating herself from them all.

“It’s not my place to say, but for right now this is our path: first we go to the Everfree Forest to the castle there, then if they aren’t there we continue onto Canterlot. If they aren’t there then we go to this new location called…” Nightfire pauses and then lifts his PipBuck up and looks at the marker that was made from his encounter with Watcher. “A place called the Dragon Cave.”

“Dragon Cave? Don’t tell me that we have to fight a dragon,” The mare who had the blades of Golden Disc says, her shoulders sagging a little as the others began talking with each other quietly.

“I don’t think we will have to worry about that. When we do manage to work our way to that cave I want you all to keep your weapons down. I have a feeling we can trust whose there.”

“Why are you sure we won’t face any fighting there Your Highness?” Warlord and Little Love ask at the same time making Silver and her brother giggle softly, though Nightfire could still see the worry on their faces.

“Trust me, I just trust that whoever is there doesn’t mean us harm.”

“What if… you are wrong again?” Night Star asks softly, as she looks down at the ground, more tears leaking from her eyes and slide down her cheeks.

“I’m not wrong, not this time,” Nightfire says, gently, remembering his failure with Gallant Brawl.

“If you believe… then I’ll follow,” She replies softly and lifts her head with a faint smile.

“Thank you Night, I promise you that I’m right this time,” He says with a smile. “Let this be something for you all to know; I’m not perfect, and neither were my sisters.”

“We understand Sir,” Warlord says with a nod of his head as the other do the same shortly after him.

“Good now let’s get going,” Nightfire replies and looks up to the sky before he started walking toward Canterlot to the north of them.

***Twenty miles later***

“Sir… I need to stop,” One of the mares say as she sits down on the ground, panting heavily.

“What’s wrong?” Nightfire asks as the group comes to a stop.

“I… I didn’t want to say anything before…” She starts, as she holds her enlarged belly gently with a hoof.

“You’re pregnant?” Nightfire asks as she looks away while rubbing her belly gently. The tall Alicorn then slowly walks up to her and lifts her chin so she was looking into his blue eyes. “Warlord? Do you think there is a town somewhere close here we could rest at?”

“Well nothing’s come up on our maps, but I’m sure there has to be one somewhere here,” He says straightening up once his name was called, having forgotten to tell him of one of their own expecting.

“Until then, you rest and take it easy,” Nightfire says having not taken his eyes off of the pregnant mare. “How far along and whose the father?”

“I’m nearly due,” She starts softly, always having been a soft spoken mare while growing up and just as she was about to say who the father was a stallion steps up beside her and sets a hoof on her shoulder.

“I am Sir.”

“Name and occupation.”

“My name is Straight Shot, one of the best Snipers that your guard has seen.”

“I assume that you have some kind of fatherly instinct right?”

“Yes I do, otherwise I wouldn’t have slept with her,” He replies giving his partner a warm smile and then leans in and kisses her cheek.

Nightfire smiles and then nods his head. “Well, we can set up camp here for a few hours. Silver Gleam, do you think this is a safe spot?”

“Well… we have a high vantage point her-“ She began then Warlord interrupted her with raised hoof.

“Forgive me Sir, but for as good of a spot as this is, I’d prefer some kind of shelter, not only for you but also for her.”

“Understandable, I want you all to wait right here,” Nightfire says as he spreads his wings and looks up to the sky. “I’m going to check out the area around us, surly there has to be a small village or something close by.”

“Be safe Sir,” The pregnant mare says with a small smile.

“I will,” Nightfire says and slings her sniper rifle around so he could use it to look around. As he takes off into the air, holding the rifle with his magic as he starts slowly turning in the air, looking through the scope as he looks around before he double takes and sees a small village nearby.

As Nightfire makes his way back down to the ground, slinging his rifle back over his shoulders between his wings, looking down at the remaining members of his guard. ‘All of them have their dreams and life’s ambitions, and I don’t know what they are. I guess I have loads to learn about them before we get too much further in the Wasteland,’ Nightfire thinks with a small frown and then lands just in front of Warlord, Little Love and Peaceful Heart. “Well I did see a village not too far from here, but it looked deserted.”

“A deserted village? Doesn’t that seem a little odd to you?” Peaceful Heart asks looking up into Nightfire’s eyes.

“I guess it does, but as long as there is a place for her to rest and for us all to catch a breath, I’m not going to complain.”

“I think that you should have some of us go in and make sure it really is empty before we get to gun hoe about it,” Little Love says knowing that looking after her pregnant comrade would leave them vulnerable if it turned into an all-out firefight.

“Good call. Warlord, take yourself and four others and scope out the village, if nothing’s there let us know. Otherwise you have permission to go for kill shots.”

Warlord looks over at Nightfire and salutes him with a strange smile on his face. “Yes sir.”

As Nightfire walks away from Warlord and Little Love, Peaceful Heart comes over and stands beside him, unsure what would be on the Alicorn’s mind. “You know…” She began after a moment of silence between herself and him as they look over the rolling Wasteland before them. “When I first met their father, I never thought in a million years that he and I would marry and have our two children. But now look at what they have done with their short lives and how much more they could still do.”

“Yes that’s true,” Nightfire says as he looks back at his guard, seeing Warlord as he strode through the ranks looking for four others to go with him on a quick scouting mission, while Little Love tended to the pregnant mare alongside Straight Shot. “I may not remember as many of my older spells that I used to, but I know that your daughter has great potential for magic. I see it every time my horn alights with my magic; ready to study the spell in all it is. Something that I wanted before but never perused in the past; a student who I could teach magic and hope that they would do well with it.”

“Well you know that she has a sharp eye and eager mind, I know she’d be willing to be a student of yours along with Silver Gleam and her brother. Others, I cannot say but I know they’d jump at the chance.”

Nightfire looks down at her with a smile crawling onto his face. “You always know what to say don’t you Peaceful?” Nightfire asks softly and then Warlord walks up with three others of their guard, among them Silver Gleam, her brother Iron Sun and Straight Shot. “Straight Shot? Are you sure of this?”

“Yes I am sir, if I can help scout a place for my wife to rest then I’d do it every time in a heartbeat.”

“If you’re sure, then I trust you. Warlord will take point, Straight Shot will hold back as sniper and you two will join Warlord on point.”

Silver Gleam and Iron Sun bow and then turn to Warlord and give him a salute. “We won’t let you down!”

“I’d hope not, now get going. I don’t like being this exposed. Straight Shot, when you get back I want to speak to you and your wife in private.”

“Yes Sir,” He says giving Nightfire a nod and looks back at his wife who was still talking with Little Love.

“They’ll be safe till you get back, I promise,” Nightfire says setting a hoof on his shoulder.

“Thank you. Captain? Let’s go. The faster we can scope out that place the better.”

Warlord smirks and then looks over his small group. “Let’s go!” He says as they start walking toward the village, soon Straight Shot finding a spot perfect for sniping and still with enough cover as Warlord and the other two work their way to the village, weapons prepped and ready to draw in a seconds notice.

“I hope that they don’t have to use them, but it’s better than not being prepared at all right?” Nightfire asks as Little Love comes up with the pregnant mare.

“That’s true Sir.”

“You know, I never believed in using such weapons, I always see honor in dying when your opponent actually stands a chance at victory, like before when things were fought between those with blades,” Nightfire says as he draws his .357 and sighs.

“Blades to guns huh? Seems more honorable indeed,” Peaceful Heart says softly. “Still can’t imagine how dying either way is pleasant.”

“It isn’t, I knew that when my parents died when I was still fairly young myself. Young…” Nightfire begins then holsters his revolver again. “By Tartarus I was twelve when they gave their lives to save my sisters and myself from Discord’s kind.”

“Discord? As in the spirit of chaos and disharmony?”

“Yes, I see that the library in the Stable was more stocked than I knew,” Nightfire replies with a smile. “Yes, he wasn’t the only one but the others met their ends thanks to my mother, father, and the others that trained me while I grew up.”

The three mares look between each other and then the sounds of gunshots fill the air. “Was that Warlord?” Little Love asks as the other guards jump to their hooves, those that had taken the moment to take a breather.

“No, that was a powerful rifle, possibly Straight Shot or somepony in the village there,” Nightfire says and then slings his rifle down and stares through the scope hoping to see what was happening.

“What do you see?”

“It was Straight Shot, and it looks like… there were someponies in there that were hostel to our own.”

“Is he ok?” The mare asks, a hoof rubbing her belly slowly.

“Don’t worry, he’s ok and from the look of it so are Silver Gleam, but it looks like her brother got shot in the side. From what I can see from here it’s nothing fatal, just a flesh wound.”

“At least he’s ok,” Little Love says softly. “What about my brother?”

“He’s ok, he’s got some blood on him but I can’t tell it’s his or Iron Sun’s,” Nightfire says and adjusts the scope and gets a little bit of a better zoom.

“Mom? Do you think he’s alright?”

“I believe he is. To stubborn of a stallion to go down without a fight.”

“Everypony!” Nightfire calls out to the others and they rush forward. “We’re going down, keep your weapon ready in case,” Nightfire says as he draws his .357 and checks the cylinder.

“You heard Nightfire! Let’s go!” Little Love calls out, taking charge just as easily as her brother could causing Nightfire to smile.

As they start slowly walking to the village, they stop near where Straight Shot is, seeing him poised with his rifle ready to fire again. “Straight Shot! Let’s go check up on them.”

“Sir! Yes Sir!” He says and slings his sniper rifle over his back and draw his 10 mm pistol.

“Stay in formation and of you see anything, well I suspect that you’ll remember your training,” Nightfire says looks back at his guard with an emotionless face, not letting his fears show.

After closing the distance between the village and where Straight Shot had set down his sniping spot they approach Warlord and the other three who nodded their heads to Nightfire as he approached. “There was only seven ponies here, all of them were ragged and looked wild,” Silver Gleam replies after he stops before them.

“Really? That’s the first we’ve heard of them,” Nightfire says softly and looks around the beaten up village. “Interesting.”

“Is Iron Sun alright Silver?” Peaceful Heart asks softly as she steps up with a healing potion cradled in her magic aura as she kneels down and examines his bandaged wound.

“I’m alright ma’am…” He replies softly and winces a little as she slowly unwinds the bandage and looks at the minor bullet wound, the bullet having only just nicked his right foreleg.

“Nothing else to report Warlord?” Nightfire asks turning his attention from Peaceful Heart and Iron Sun and looks over the close together buildings that were worn down from time and the walls seeming to be riddled with bullet holes.

“No Sir. Those seven ponies were easy for us to handle,” He says wiping his forehead and looks into Nightfire’s eyes. “The building right here had some beds in it, but I wouldn’t sleep on them.”

“How bad are they?” The pregnant mare asks as she steps up to Nightfire’s side.

“Let’s just say that if you want bugs crawling in your fur, you’ve got it in spades,” Warlord replies with a sarcastic remark.

Nightfire looks at the buildings and then wonders what they might be able to find in them. “Warlord with me, you and I are going to do a little scavenging.”

“Yes Sir,” He replies quickly giving Warlord a salute after holstering his pistol.

“Let’s start with that building right there,” Nightfire says as he walks up to the building next to the one there were standing next to. “Might have something here for us to find.”

“What would you assume we could find here?” Warlord asks as he follows Nightfire up the squeaky wooden steps of the worn building.

“I’m not sure to be honest. But I have to guess that the ponies who you found here aren’t so feral that they wouldn’t think to have food and other supplies stashed somewhere,” Nightfire says as he looks around the room once stepping through the doorway. “Maybe some weapon, ammo and possibly some food with some medical supplies. How good of quality was their armor and weapons?”

“Not very good, one of them had a combat shotgun, but it was in such bad condition that it wouldn’t be worth it for more than temporary parts,” Warlord says as he starts walking close to the wall, seeing many torn and ruined books and other junk that was lying around. It wasn’t until he got to the bookcase that he saw a book that looked like it had escaped the wear and tear of the weather. “Nightfire Sir, I just found a book here that looks like you could still read it.”

“What’s on the spine or the cover?” Nightfire asks looking at the dresser in the corner opposite of Warlord’s position, finding nothing more than old dresses and suits.

Warlord pulls the book put from between the two ruined books and lets it fall onto the floor, the book landing with a quiet thump on its back. “Locks and Tumblers, looks like a book to help somepony learn to lock pick Sir.”

“Grab it, it will be of use to us at some point I imagine. Besides, I think we’ll need it right now,” Nightfire says lifting out from under the dresser a locked medical box.

“I’ll see what I can find to open it, they maybe had the key somewhere here.”

“No need Warlord, hand me the book, I’m going to give it a quick read and see if I can pick it using my magic.”

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t you want me to find the one in our group who can pick locks? That got her in trouble before but she said it was her specialty.”

“For now no, I want to see if this is something that I can do, and if I can then it’s another skill that can be added to my abilities,” He says as he walks up to a desk and sets it down gently. “Explore the rest of the building and see if there is anything worth scavenging, I think it’ll all come in handy later.”

“Of course Sir,” Warlord says as he turns and wanders down the hallway that was next to the desk leaving Nightfire with the book and the locked medical box.

“Alright, let’s give you a read, see if you can teach me something,” Nightfire says looking at the book that Warlord had set beside him before taking off to explore. His horn glows gently and then the books cover becomes encased in the glow and slowly opens revealing that the pages were slightly yellow but were still readable. “Some luck,” Nightfire says softly and turns the page and begins reading, the words sticking in his mind as if it was a trap for flies. “So since I don’t have any form of tool, this will have to do,” He says and then focuses his magic on the lock, the magic flowing inside and feel the tumblers of the lock and gently pushes against them. “Moving easily, and I think if I do this,” Nightfire says then starts pushing them up into some pattern a key would’ve had then hears the lock click open. “Yes… Going to need to find something to lock pick these with though, it may be easier in the long run.”

While talking aloud to himself he slowly opens the box and sees five different healing potions, bandages and something his PipBuck identified as Mint-als. “Interesting… these other medical supplies look like they’d help but these I’m not to sure. ‘Boosts one’s clarity. Warning highly addictive.’ I’ll keep these myself and if they are needed then I’ll reveal them, but for now these are going right into my saddle bags,” Nightfire says and without even having to undo the strap securing his saddle bags, slips them in and lifts the other supplies with his magic. Knowing that this next one would bring Warlord running as well, he decided to step outside onto the porch. “Medic? I got some supplies for you here,” He says setting them out on the old wood.

“Thank you sir. All Iron Sun needs is one of these and he’ll be back on his hooves in no time.”

“Good to hear, now all of you take a break, Warlord and I are going to do a little scavenging and see if we can find anything more that could be useful.”

“Yes Sir. You two stay safe.”

“We plan on it,” Nightfire says as he turns and walks back into the building and goes down the hall that Warlord had. “Anything?”

“I found some ammo for a .32 caliber weapon, an assault rifle and some ammo for your .357.”

“Nothing else to report?” Nightfire asks as he walks up to Warlord and then stops as he sees a hinge that was hidden. “See those?” Nightfire asks as he moves the small picture that was so faded he couldn’t make out the ponies on it. “A small wall safe.”

“I must’ve missed it, more interesting things on the ground.”

“I don’t blame you,” Nightfire says and tries pulling at the door and it comes open without resistance. “And… a statuette?” Nightfire asks softly and pulls it slowly out of the safe and sees the shape of a white furred unicorn mare with a long purple mane and tail that were curled and her blue eyes that seemed to look into Nightfire’s own while she seemed only to be nearing her later years. The three diamond Cutie Mark on her flank and the platform she seemed to be standing on had a small engraving on it. “‘Be Unwavering’… just like her.”

“Who is she Sir?” Warlord asks, becoming entranced by the statuettes beauty.

Nightfire slips the statue into his saddle bags and looks over at him. “That was one of the statuettes of one of the Ministry Mares; Rarity,” Then suddenly as it vanished, he felt some part of his body awaken with a strange feeling, much like when he found the two statuettes of his sisters.

“Rarity?”

“Yes, but I’ll talk about her once we are back with the others, understood?”

“Yes Sir. Shall we finish with these remaining rooms?”

“Yes we shall my Captain, there might be more that we can find that’ll be of use to us.”

“Might I suggest we look in the bedroom? There might be something hidden there like how that safe was hidden behind the picture.”

“Yes, let’s go on,” The Alicorn replies and looks at the faded hall.

***An hour and a half later***

“Everypony gather round,” Nightfire says as he and Warlord walk up to the others with what they had scavenged. “How is she doing Straight?”

“She’s doing fine, just needed to get her off of her hooves for a while. I think that we should stay here for the night so we can all take a breather.”

“I can’t agree more,” She says softly, rubbing her belly while leaning against her mate while he stroked her shoulders gently with his hooves.

“Well while we’re right here I want to tell you about one of the Ministry Mares. By name she was called Rarity and she was the figurehead of the Ministry of Image.”

“The Ministry of Image? Wasn’t that one the one that dealt with propaganda for the war?” Iron Sun asks as he flexes his wounded leg.

“I believe you’re right, to be honest I never paid her Ministry mind until she started working with other Ministries for better armor,” Nightfire replies and pulls the statuette out of his bag and shows them all what she used to look like.

“So… that’s what one of the famous Ministry Mares looked like? She looks very attractive,” Night says with a thin smile as she looks at it closely.

“Yes it’s true that each of them had control of one of the six major Ministries during the war and it is also true that there were appointed by my sister Celestia that she and her five friends were made the figureheads of each Ministry.”

“So… each of them was only put into their positions because they were friends?” Night asks then Little Love taps her shoulder gently with a hoof.

“That’s not the reason.”

“Do you know the reason Little Love?” Nightfire asks with a smile and looks at her with quizzical eyes.

“Yes Sir, it’s because they were the current wielders of the artifacts called the Elements of Harmony.”

“Elements of Harmony?” The pregnant mare asks as her mate kisses her neck softly.

As Nightfire opened his mouth to respond, he strained his ears and hears a low buzz filling the air. Quick as a flash of lightning he teleports himself into the center of his guards and calls forth his strongest shield possible as something large comes falling from the sky, smashing into his shield with such tremendous force that he had to force more magic into his horn to keep the glowing shield from shattering. Unfortunately the effort sapped much of his energy and he fell to his knees slowly, a hoof pressed against his temple. “Don-Don’t do anything foolish.”

“What do you mean?” Straight Shot asks as he quickly rushes to Nightfire’s side and lets him use him as a support.

“Exactly what I… mean,” Nightfire says softly as the glow of his horn fades and the shield fades away from the top down to the ground as he closes his eyes, falling into unconsciousness.

Footnote: Level up!
New perk: Dead Shot - Increases accuracy with a scoped weapon by 25% inside and outside of S.A.T.S.

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We are standing in the flames, Reaching for the sky. Fight to the end, Yesterday is dead and gone

“Back again I see… seems we might be meeting like this often enough,” The voice that Nightfire had heard before he had first awoken said, not sounding surprised but as if she’d predicted it.

“T-Tell me…” Nightfire begins as he slowly opens his eyes and finds himself resting on his back in the same darkness that had nearly consumed him before. His eyes closed as a single ray of light shined down and light up the area immediately around him. “Why is it that when I hear your voice, I’m reminded of my mother?”

“I can assure you I’m not your mother,” The voice says gently, as if trying to spare his feelings. “But I will tell you that I have known you since Luna’s fall from grace.”

“Since that day… I wasn’t even in Equestria when Nightmare Moon was first created and when Tia ultimately banished our little sister to the moon,” Nightfire says as a tear forms in the corner of his eyes. “Ever since she came back I wanted to keep them safe like I said I would, now look at me; I don’t even know what happened to them. I’m searching the Wasteland blind.”

“Those two statues you have of them… there’s more behind them than you could know. When you first held them with your magic you felt something inside you stir, but what that is, you must figure out alone. For I cannot help you there,” The voice says, sounding like she was just right outside the ray of light to Nightfire’s left.

Nightfire slowly turns his head to look into the darkness to his left and sighs sadly. “Is there anything you can tell me? Anything at all about my sisters?”

“I’m sorry, my knowledge of what happened to them is limited to what you know as well. I don’t know any better than you do at this present moment.”

“Well aren’t you helpful,” Nightfire replies with a sarcastic remark. “So until I find out what happened to them, you’ll only know as much as me?” Nightfire faces back into the ray of light and shakes his head slowly. “I’m going to find them… even if I have to tear this Wasteland apart to do so.”

“I know, your determination is amazing, but answer yourself this; is your determination going to cause your guard harm or will they be able to keep up with you?”

“I believe in them to follow their path. They’re not bound to me as they believe. If anypony wanted to they could leave, find a life for themselves out in Equestria. I wouldn’t look down at them for it.”

“Is that so? You really are the most generous pony I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you, but why are you sticking around in my head?”

“That’s something even I want to know,” The voice says softly.

“Why is it that when I talk with you I’m left with more questions than answers? Like you're hiding something from me?” Nightfire asks as he looks back in the direction that the mare’s voice was coming from with a frown on his muzzle.

“I don’t know, but is there anything you want to mention before you wake up? Because I feel like you’re going to wake up soon.”

Nightfire looks into the darkness, straining his eyes to try and see a figure in the shadows before giving up with a sigh. “Are you some kind of manifestation of my sisters?”

“… I don’t know…”

“You’re so helpful…” Nightfire says sarcastically and then closes his eyes. “I assume that was all I had time for hmm?”

“Yes… when I see you next, I hope I’m able to offer more. Now it’s time to wake up.”

“See you next time,” Nightfire says as he feels the darkness around begin to close in on him.

ϾϾϾ

Nightfire groans low and then as his body begins waking up from being knocked out by the magic strain he feels something cold locked above his PipBuck and the other around his ankle. ‘What is that?’ He asks as he slowly begins trying to sit up and hears the clink of chain as he tries moving his forelegs. As Nightfire opens his eyes he finds that he is stuck in the same darkness. ‘Either I’m blindfolded or somepony took out my eyes… which I hope it’s the former.’

“Sir? Are you alright?” Warlord’s voice asks from his right, sounding concerned and slightly fearful.

“I’m fine… my head is throbbing but I’m fine otherwise. What the hell is going on?” Nightfire whispers, unsure what was around him or who might be listening.

“We’ve been captured, but they haven’t said anything about who they are. As far as we know they could be ponies from this town or some ponies who have been raised in the Wasteland.”

“Fantastic… are you or any of the other’s blindfolded?” Nightfire asks as he takes a slow, deep breath as he tries to focus on his magic. Finding that he was able to quickly access it he smirks.

“Nopony else is. You’re the only one. One of them said that due to an encounter with an Alicorn a few months back that you’re the biggest threat,” Warlord says as he whispers back.

“Is anypony around that isn’t part of the guard?” Nightfire asks as his horn glows weakly.

“Not that I can tell. After you passed out, the seven of them came out and said that if we didn’t surrender they’d kill you then us. The leader of the group said they had a sniper ready to take the shot and since none of us can produce a shield spell…”

“We had no choice but to assume they were telling the truth and we stood down,” Little Love says softly as she moves her foreleg uncomfortably, the chains moving sounding like thunder in her ears.

“I’m going to try and take off my blindfold, let me know if we’re being watched. Also… is our mother to be ok?” Nightfire asks with a concerned tone.

“We will and as far as we can tell… she’s alright. But the stress this is creating for her isn’t good for the foal.”

“So the faster we can get away and free ourselves the better,” Nightfire says as his magic begins solidifying around the blindfold before suddenly a gunshot rings out, making him flinch and his horn cease glowing.

“Well lookie whose awake… unfortunately you’re not going anywhere without us taking you there,” The voice says sounding so full of himself.

“Who the hell are you?” Nightfire asks as he looks toward where he had heard the voice.

“We’re slavers… and I’m sure that Red Eye will take great pleasure in having more Unicorns on his side and even with some Pegasus ponies in addition to some Griffons he’ll be one forced to recon with. With you… an Alicorn; we’ve hit the jackpot with you and these ponies.”

“Red Eye? Is that who you work for?” Nightfire asks as a smile starts to form on his lips. “He’ll regret the day he was ever born should he and I ever meet. I swear that to you.”

“If I were you… I’d be watching what I say. Because I have more leverage than you do at this moment,” He says and then laughs harshly.

“Take off my blindfold. I want to see the ponies who think that we’ll go quietly,” Nightfire demands as his wings shuffle.

“For now I think I’ll keep that on until we’re ready to go. I’m not as much of an idiot then you might think.”

“If you had the nerve you would take it off and look into my eyes,” Nightfire says in a bit of a challenging tone.

“I’d be careful what you say to somepony with a gun,” The Slaver says and presses a gun against the side of Nightfire’s head.

Nightfire freezes and takes a slow and deep breath. “Alright… you’ve made your point. But I will say that killing me would greatly disappoint Red Eye.”

“I know that’s why your little ponies here will be what I need to keep you in check.”

“You wouldn’t dare use them against me like that. They are like my family,” Nightfire says, turning his head to face the slaver, the barrel of the gun moving to press just below his horn. “And I’ll be damned if you use them like this.”

“So like family huh? Even better. Now I know that you won’t risk their safety by doing anything stupid,” The Slaver says and then pushes the gun against Nightfire’s head then pulls it away. “We’ll be leaving in twenty minutes.”

Nightfire lies there, breathing heavily as he hears the Slaver move away from him and Warlord’s family. “This isn’t good… not at all.”

“What do we do?” Little Love asks softly, leaning in to keep her voice from being heard by the Slaver.

“For now… there’s nothing to do, just stay calm and do as they say. I’m assuming they’ve taken most if not all of our equipment yes?”

“For some reason they let us keep our armor, but they took all of our weapons, down to our knives.”

“They even took my swords,” The mare who had the twin blades says from not far away.

“Tell me now while we have time, your name,” Nightfire says turning his head to face the direction of her voice.

“My name is Swift Fear,” She utters softly and then coughs gently into her hoof, the chains rattling as she brought the hoof up to her muzzle.

“Are you ok?” Peaceful Heart asks as she scoots closer, the chains of her shackles clinking with each movement.

“I’m fine ma’am… just something caught in my throat,” She replies and then coughs into her hoof again more violently.

“We need water or something…” Peaceful says before the Slaver comes back and pushes her away with a single hoof and looks down at Swift and licks his lips.

“Only if I had more time with you, I’d make sure that you’d never want another stallion but me.”

Swift coughs and then chuckles. “You’re a stallion? I could’ve swore you were a mare,” She replies quickly and then spits at him.

The Slaver winces slightly from the unexpected insult and her spit landing on his right cheek. “You little bitch!” He exclaims and raises a hoof to strike her before anther pony, one of the other Slavers gripped his hoof and threw him onto the ground.

“Are you fucking dense?! Red Eye will pay us better if they aren’t harmed!” The mare shouts and looks down at him angrily.

“Well aren’t you fucking observant!” The stallion replies angrily and rolls onto his belly and gets back onto his hooves. “What do you think I’m going to do when the bitch insulted me like that?”

“I honestly think she did you a favor. That ego of yours makes you act foalish. If it wasn’t for the fact that we’re going to put them to work and that she’d most likely die within a few months I’d find her slightly interesting.”

The stallion bares his teeth and then turns away and stomps off, cursing under his breath.

Nightfire sighs softly in relief. “Thank you...”

“I didn’t do it for her,” She snaps and looks over her shoulder at the blindfolded Alicorn. “I did it for more caps and a few days of relaxation. Now shut up before I kick the Celestia damned life out of you!”

Nightfire bites his lips and nods his head. ‘Can’t afford to piss them off, not yet anyway.’

“Change of plans! We’re leaving now. Sooner we get back to Fillydelphia the better!” The mare exclaims and walks away from Nightfire and the ponies close to him. “Everypony on your hooves!”

Nightfire sighs and nods to Warlord and the others struggling to get onto his hooves due to the shackles around his knees.

Nightfire slowly struggles, first because he was being blindfolded and second because his legs were shackled right at his knees, forcing him to use his wings to lift himself off of the ground then quickly fold them at his sides.

“Since we can’t really lead you anywhere without you running into everything between here and Fillydelphia,” The female Slaver addresses Nightfire then reaches up and pulls off the cloth with her teeth and spits it out onto the ground, finally giving him his sight back.

“Come on you little bastard! Move it!” The slaver that had threatened Nightfire earlier exclaims and presses the barrel of the gun against the temple of a stallion who refused to get up from the ground.

“Go to Tartarus!”

“If you want it that way, then I’ll meet you there!” The Slaver says then pulls the trigger, the bullet from the gun killing the guard and splattering the closest guard with droplets of his blood as he drops dead on the ground.

In that instant, all of the members of the guard rush toward their fallen brother and Nightfire stares at shock. Each second he spent staring seeming like an eternity. ‘No… not another one of them…’ Nightfire thinks and then bares his teeth and begins walking forward before feeling a gun pressed against his temple.

“Not another fucking step. Now tell them to stand down or I’ll be happy to make sure that they listen!” The mare Slaver says as her horn glows around Nightfire’s own .44 revolver as the hammer clicks back, cocking the gun.

Nightfire looks at her and then to the members of his guard as they all look at him with a mixture of emotions, ranging all the way from fear to pure anger. Nightfire turns to face the Slaver and feels the barrel of the gun press a little harder against his temple. “Stand down, they are the ones in control at this moment.”

Little Love and Silver Gleam look to their brothers and then back to Nightfire and look at the ground sadly as tears form at the corners of their eyes.

“Now get moving,” She says and starts walking as she presses the gun against the back of Nightfire’s head.

Nightfire begins slowly walking forward, aware that if he stopped walking that he’d most likely be killed or injured or they’d use his guard to hurt him and usher him on. ‘I’m sorry everypony, I should’ve been faster than this.’

“That’s more like it, move it along,” The Slaver with Nightfire’s .44 says and grins as Nightfire begins walking to the direction she wanted.

Nightfire looks back at her and glares at her with anger in his eyes.

“I swear I’ll put an end to you and your little group of slavers.”

“I’m so scared, what’re you going to do? Keep up weak little threats like that? For a moment I was afraid but seeing you like this makes me realize that you’re no more a threat than a radroach!” She exclaims with a smile and looks back at the line of ponies following him, their shackles rattling with each step and one of the mare who was pregnant huddled close to Straight Shot.

“Well if it was just you and I in a duel I’d end you in a heartbeat. In the end all you are is a coward,” Nightfire continues as she keeps pace a few feet behind him and to his left.

“I’d be mindful of the one who has your own gun. But that’s just me,” She replies and slips the revolver into the holster as She walks ahead and walks with a confident trot, leaving Nightfire some space to think and manage to slink back into his group to walk beside the pregnant mare.

“Are you ok?”

“I… think so, the foal’s been kicking more lately. More than likely I’ll be ready to give birth in a few days, maybe less.”

Nightfire looks down at the shackles around each other their forelegs and then to the slavers who seemed to only bother them if one strayed a little too far from the main group. “I swear to you we’ll do everything we can to make sure they leave you be.”

“You’d do that for me?” She asks softly and then feels her mate nudge her gently.

“Of course he would. You remember the stories we were told about his generosity and his need to help others. I won’t doubt him and neither should you.”

“He’s right… I won’t let anything happen to you or your foal. I’ll pass this along to the others to do what they can that won’t endanger you both,” Nightfire whispers and looks around to make sure they weren’t being overheard.

Tears well up in her eyes from his words and she gives him a gentle nuzzle. “Thank you… for doing this for me. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t worry about it, if I have to take a beating for you then so be it, anything to keep you and your foal safe.”

“You really are like the stories said,” She says and then looks at the nearest Slaver who had been watching them from his spot in the march.

“I never want to let down those who I care for, no matter what. Do you know the name of the latest guard we lost?”

“I didn’t know him personally, I never knew his name. I just know he was one hell of a Guard,” Straight Shot says softly, looking over his shoulder at where they were forced to leave his body.

“Would Warlord, Little Love or Peaceful Heart know?” Nightfire asks trying to keep his voice low so they wouldn’t be overheard.

“The Captain should, he had interactions with all of us at one point or another.”

“Keep your wife safe Straight, otherwise you’ll find that life is harder to live,” Nightfire says then begins slowly working his way past each member until he’s standing next to Warlord and Little Love.

“I can’t find a way out of these damn things, and I’ve examined them ever since they first locked them on me,” Little Love says with a frustrated groan.

“We’ll figure it out, but did either of you know the Guard we lost?” Nightfire asks softly and with great care.

“I talked with him quite a bit, I think his name was…” Warlord begins only to be interrupted by his little sister.

“Soven Diamond. He was a stubborn stallion but always true to his word,” She tells as tears begin sliding down her cheeks.

‘Little Love’s not cut out for the Wasteland. But maybe she can prove me wrong somehow,’ Nightfire thinks before etching the name into his memory. “Soven Diamond?”

“Yeah… I only talked with him a couple hooves of times, but he was determined.”

“Spread the word around the Guard, everyponies going to take a turn protecting our mother to be. I’m sure the Slavers will catch on to the pattern but we have to keep her and the foal safe.”

“Understood sir.”

“Understood sir,” Both Warlord and Little Love reply gently and Peaceful Heart smiles from the other side of her daughter.

“Good plan, but what if they start targeting the one who’s keeping watch on her?”

“Then I’ll step up and make them force their attention on me. I can take whatever they can dish out. Trust me,” Nightfire replies with a smile just making it onto his lips before he looks at the Slaver who had taken the lead. “Doesn’t it seem odd that they would only have so few in a group?”

“Now that you mention it… yeah. But maybe there’s something to the Wastes that we’re not aware of yet,” Warlord replies as he eyes the lead and two Slavers to her rear left and right.

“From what I can tell, they’re carrying only base essentials and two weapons, theirs and one that they took from us,” Little Love says making a note of the fire power each would have.

“However they all seem to hate each other. But I’m not sure if we could use that to our advantage,” Peaceful Heart says as she lifts her head a little and looks around at the positions of the Slavers.

“This might work, but it may also just come back and bite us in the flank,” Nightfire says and then shuffles his wings gently.

“Enough chat!” The Slaver that took the lead says and turns to look at Nightfire and the others. “We’ll be staying here for tonight and don’t even think of trying to sneak away or you’ll be shot.”

Nightfire and his guard slow to a stop and settle into a fairly large cluster, the pregnant mare in the center with her mate. ‘At least they’re keeping her safe,’ Nightfire thinks with a smile and then looks at the slavers that had walked away to start a fire of their own. “So you’re gonna leave us without any form of food or water?”

“How about you wait till we’re done then we’ll give you something. If you keep bothering us then you and your group will get nothing. So shut the hell up!” The lead mare says as she looks at Nightfire with an annoyed look.

Nightfire looks at the mare then sighs. “Look, one of our own needs water. Please give me that and I won’t bother you for the rest of the night,” Nightfire says with a bit of suppressed anger.

“Fine! It’ll shut you up then here!” She exclaims and then throws a canteen of water, it lands on the ground just a little way from Nightfire and rolls till it stops at his side.

Nightfire looks down at the canteen and then passes it to the pony next to him. “Pass this down to our mother to be. She needs it more.”

“Yes Sir,” The mare says before biting into the crumbling leather of the strap and passes it along to the next pony, a stallion who simply passed it along without a word.

Nightfire watches as the canteen is passed back to her and then looks at the group of slavers who were settled around a rusted and hole riddled barrel and had light a fire. ‘That’s a tactical error, it gives away our position and I don’t like this spot. Its way to open and we can’t fight in these.’

“Sir? This spot is not a good one, we’re way too exposed. Plus that fire they set up is painting a big bullseye on our backs,” Warlord says and looks around the spot they were staying.

“I still think that the sooner we can get away the better. I still have a few bobby pins in my tail,” Little Love leans in and whispers into Nightfire’s ear.

“Good, when they fall asleep I need you to slip me a bobby pin so I can try to pick the shackles lock. I was able to pick the lock of that safe in the town we were in. First I want to talk with Straight Shot and his mate,” Nightfire says and begins slowly crawling his way toward the two in the center of the circle the guard had created to keep her safe. After a few moments of crawling he stops at her side. “You feeling ok?”

“I think so…” She says looks down at her bulging belly. “The foal’s been kicking a lot more recently. We need to think of something to get out of here,” Candle Light says softly.

“Tell me… are you two actually married or are you two just a casual couple?” Nightfire asks, never having properly guessed if they really were married or not.

“We’re married, have been for a little under a year,” Straight Shot says as he cuddles up close to her.

“So I assume that you got pregnant before marriage?” Nightfire asks softly and looks down at her belly.

“Yes… but we did it for love. Not just for the foal,” Candle Light replies winces a little. “Want to feel the foal kick Your Highness?”

“Yes I would,” Nightfire says and places a hoof lightly on her belly and waits patiently for a few moments before feeling the foal kick gently against his hoof. “Strong… just like you Candle…” Nightfire replies and gives her a smile.

“Thank you,” She replies with a smile and then feels her husband kiss her cheek gently.

“We’ll make it through this… I promise you,” Straight Shot says and nuzzles her cheek gently.

“I know we will… as long as we have each other and Nightfire we’ll be ok.”

“Of course. I will do all I can to keep you and your foal safe,” Nightfire says and strokes her belly gently.

“We appreciate it,” She replies and then looks over at the Slavers. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m going to try and pick the lock on your shackles when they are all asleep. Maybe I can make things easier for you.”

“Can you?” She asks softly as to not attract the attention of the Slavers.

“Yes I could. I just to make sure they are asleep so they won’t see me.”

“Anything we could do?” Swift Fear asks and then coughs a little, her eyes looking a tad bloodshot.

“You just rest, I think you’ve got a cold,” Nightfire says turning back to address her.

“But sir I’m fine…” She begins to protest and then begins coughing into a hoof.

“No. Rest and recover your strength. You’re no good to any of us sick.”

She nods and lies her head down to try and find a comfortable way to lie down and then finds that her head was being lifted by magic and laid against Silver Gleam’s back.

“Consider this something that we should all do.”

“Thank you,” Swift Fear replies softly and then closes her eyes to try and get some kind of sleep.

Nightfire looks over at the twins and see them cuddled close, protecting each other and Swift Fear as each of them all start falling into sleep. “As long as we have somepony like your Silver, we’ll be ok,” He whispers softly before looking around at the guard and then to the slavers. Seeing that their attention was elsewhere, he picks up the bobby pin that he hidden and begins slowly working on the lock of his shackles.

As he worked, he looked up every so often to see if he was being watched, only the sleeping gaze of his guard and the slavers scanning the horizon for threats greeted him each time. As Nightfire feels the bobby pin catch and then breaks. “Fuck!” Nightfire curses softly and looks at the broken pin before tossing it aside as he looks at the lock with anger in his eyes. “These are simple locks and yet I can’t pick them? What the buck?!” He exclaims and then looks up and sees one of the slavers turn his head to look in his direction. He quickly lays his head down on his forelegs and then closes his eyes to make it look like he was asleep.

After a few moments Nightfire opens his right eye and looks up at the sky and sees the faded light of the moon through a small break in the clouds. ‘Luna… I know you’re ok. You just have to be.’

As Nightfire looks up at the moonlight it slowly begins becoming harder and harder to see the light he shakes his head and then closes his eyes to let sleep finally take him but not before one last thought swam through his mind ‘I know the moon can move without my sister’s having to move it but I have to believe that she is moving it. If not her then hopefully it’s Celestia moving it.’

***Early in the morning***

Nightfire wakes up slowly, hearing some distant sound. Something along the lines of music before several gunshots ring out making each of the shackled ponies immediately wake up, looking around quickly before turning to Nightfire then to the slavers. “What the hell are you wasting ammo on? Because unless it is something that could actually be a threat why not use a blade?”

“Why wasting the effort when it’s easier to just use a gun,” The same slaver who tried to take advantage of Swift Fear said after holstering Nightfire’s .357.

“Because if my guard and I have learned in the short time that we’ve been out here is that ammo is as precious as food,” Nightfire says as he looks at the slaver with disgust.

“Enough! You and your ponies have been a pain in my flank more than any other slaves that I brought to Fillydelphia. If you all don’t shut the fuck up I’m gonna-“ She begins and then one of the other slavers points a hoof over the horizon.

“Steel Rangers coming our way! From the look of it we’ve got at seven to twelve of them!” He says and quickly pulls out a rifle and lines up the shot at one of them.

“You idiot! Find a position to snipe and you come with me,” The mare says as she looks over at Nightfire’s group. “Grab that one there,” She says pointing a hoof to Swift Fear and then turns back to the distant Steel Rangers.

The stallion quickly trots down to Nightfire’s group and bites Swift Fear’s mane pulling her away from the group despite the others trying to keep her away from the slavers. As he approaches the lead mare he nods to her as Swift Fear tries to pull away from the stallion.

“If you harm one hair on her mane so help me I’ll kill you!” Nightfire calls out as he begins to stand up only for one of the slavers to turn and point his assault rifle at him making him stop in his tracks.

“Don’t you fucking move! The rest of you come with me. We’ll meet them out and see if we can negotiate a deal with them.”

“Do you honestly think that they’ll reason with us?” One of the stallions asks only to get punched across the face by the mare.

“They’re going to because that’s why we’re taking this one with us,” She says and then looks out at the Steel Rangers from behind some cover as one of the slavers shoot once into the air to get the Ranger’s attention.

“You idiot! They’ll kill you then kill us!” Nightfire says baring his teeth at the mare with anger in his eyes.

“I told you already to shut the fuck up!” She cries out and then steps out from behind the cover she had with the stallion following behind her. “Now all of you wait here and don’t move,” She says as she makes motions with her hooves for each of the other slavers to take up positions if it turns into a firefight.

“Sir I don’t like this at all. They’re gonna get themselves killed then it’s going to be us next,” Warlord says as he looks up into his eyes.

“I know but what can I do? If I try anything then they’ll turn and open fire on us. I don’t want to risk your lives any more than I have to.”

“I know but I think you have to do something Your Highness,” Peaceful Heart replies as she looks down at the shackles around her ankles and then up at Nightfire.

Nightfire looks down at the shackles around his ankles and then sighs. “Whatever happens I’m happy that I knew all of you,” Nightfire says and then closes his eyes as his magic begins focusing on the shackles around each of their legs before the shackles break at the hinges causing them all to fall down onto the ground. “Everypony take cover and no matter what nopony try to be a hero,” Nightfire says as he takes a deep breath and then starts slowly sneaking up on the slaver who was supposed to be standing watch as he watches the leader of his small band of slavers. Quickly Nightfire leaps forward and then grips the slaver around his neck with his forelegs and squeezes tightly. “I’m not sorry, but I never wanted to kill you!” Nightfire exclaims softly into his ear and struggles to hold the grip.

The slaver struggles to suck down breath as Nightfire’s forelegs press hard into his throat, blocking his windpipe and cutting off his oxygen supply and turns his head to looks into Nightfire’s eyes. “How… d-dare you…” The slaver manages to speak before giving blinking once more as he closes his eyes one last time and goes limp in Nightfire’s grip.

Nightfire gulps and then gently sets down the slavers body before quickly picking up the slavers weapons and quickly ducks behind a large rock then checks the rifle. “Shit… only twelve bullets and against armor it’s almost worthless.”

Meanwhile Warlord and Little Love look over at Nightfire’s hiding spot from where they were hiding and look at each other before looking to where the others went to hide with concerned looks on their faces. “Everyponies at least in a good spot for cover,” Warlord says and gives a smirk and then looks over at his sister. “I have a knife under my armor, get it so we at least have a way of protection.”

“A knife? I thought they found all of your weapons,” Little Love says as her horn glows gently and slowly pulls the knife out from under Warlord’s armor and passes it to her brother. “Play it smart big brother… I don’t want to lose you and mother.”

“You’re not gonna lose me that easily,” Warlord says around the hilt of the knife between his teeth then places a hoof gently on her shoulder. “Promise.”

She smiles and then slowly sneaks off while her brother and the other guard watch as she stumbles across a metal box near where the slavers had built the fire the night before and finds several weapons mainly 10mm pistols and a 10mm sub machine gun. She quickly gathers them up in her telekinetic field and then trots to as many of the ponies as she could, apologizing about the weapon quality to each.

After passing out the weapon she stops beside Straight Shot and Candle Light giving him the 10mm sub machine gun. “I hope it helps. I know it’s not your weapon but it’s something right?”

“Thanks Little Love. I appreciate it,” He says as he and his wife give her warm smiles and he checks the gun for what ammo it had in the clip. “A full clip? I’m kinda surprised. Can you wait here with Candle? I want to see if Swift is ok.”

“You know it,” She replies as he slips away and stays behind cover, not once bringing himself into the view of the Rangers.

Meanwhile while Nightfire and the others managed to free and arm themselves with weapons the lead slaver speaks with the leader of the Rangers, Swift Fear being forced to be a shield in case the Rangers opened fire.

“Please don’t do this!” Swift Fear begs, a few tears sliding down her cheeks before the female slaver presses a knife against her back with her magic.

“Shut up! Now will you accept our proposal and leave us be? Or will things have to get bloody?”

The leader of the Rangers looks between the small number of slavers and focuses on the mare acting as a pony shield for the slaver. “She’s not part of your group, and these shackles make me assume she is a slave hmm? To be honest even her armor is nothing like I’ve seen in the Wastes. I think she might be of better use with us than with your twisted leader back in Fillydelphia. She’s gonna be coming with us, so let her go and maybe we’ll let you and your small group here live,” She says as she starts targeting the slavers with her armor’s built-in system.

“Sorry but she stays with us. To be honest, you’re pretty much dead already Ranger,” She says with a bit of a smirk.

“Why do you say that slaver scum?” The Ranger to the leader’s right says, the twin grenade launchers on his battle saddle making Swift Fear shiver.

“Because we have a sniper ready to take your heads off if any of us are shot. We have the tactical advantage here Ranger,” She replies with a smirk.

“You think one sniper will be enough for all of us? I honestly think that working for Red Eye has decreased your I.Q. a bit. You have the sniper in your sights?” The female Ranger says turning her head to looks at the one of her group who had an anti-material rifle aimed back where they had positioned the sniper with the new slaves.

“Ma’am we got a problem,” The Ranger says and lowers the rifle from where he had been aiming.

“What do you mean ‘problem?’” The lead Ranger says as she looks into his visor.

“The sniper was just taken out by another pony, looked like that other pony took him out with hoof to hoof combat.”

“Looks like you’ve just lost your edge. Now give her to us and we’ll let you all walk away with your pathetic lives,” The leader replies with a smile from behind her helmet and looks back at the slavers and scarred mare.

“Not a chance! Take them down!” The mare says as she pushes the mare onto the ground and pulls out a .44 revolver and takes aim before suddenly the mare is riddled full of bullets as the sound of a thunderstorm fills the air. The Ranger to the leaders left begins turning to allow the mounted mini gun on his battle saddle mow down the slavers, each of the slavers barely managing to get a shot off before they were bullet riddled corpses.

Swift Fear looks up at the Rangers and then at the slavers who had taken her captive a mere day ago then sighs softly. “Thank you for freeing me. The others of my group are back there where their sniper was, I need to go and check on them now!” She says and jumps onto her hooves before the twin barrels of the grenade launcher pointed at her.

“How do we know that you’re not secretly working for them huh?” He asks and glares at her from behind the helmet.

“Stand down. If she really was with them I’m sure she would’ve done something by now,” The leader says with a gentle tone and looks at the slavers bodies. “If they had any of your weapon feel free to take them back. I know what it’s like not to have a weapon out here.”

“Thank you so much… what’s your name?” Swift Fear asks gently as she looks down at her cuffs and then to them. “Can one of you help me with these?” She asks indicating to her shackles and ends up showing them her Pip-Buck.

“So you’re from a Stable? Wasn’t sure that there were any of those around this area. Anyway my name is Star Paladin Root Beer and would somepony help her with those shackles already?” The mare who had now finally identified herself says waving a hoof to Swift for one of them to get her out of the shackles.

Back with Nightfire and the others they remain hidden behind what cover they could and look up at Straight Shot. “What’s happening out there?” Nightfire asks with his back pressed back against a thin sheet of rusted metal.

“They’re coming this way, looks like Swift Fear is ok and those Rangers removed her shackles. Keep your weapons ready in case though,” He reports having taken the previous snipers position except he didn’t have the weapon loaded.

“Understood. Is everypony alright?” Nightfire asks looking as the rest of them give a wave of a hoof to show they were ok.

After waiting for a few moments Swift Fear came running back with their weapons in tow in her telekinetic magic field and sets them down in a pile. “Is everypony ok Sir?” She asks before collapsing onto her knees in a coughing fit.

Quickly Nightfire and Peaceful Heart jump to her side and pat her back. “You’re gonna be alright, just rest now ok? You’ve done a lot for us today,” The older mare says and gives the heavily breathing mare a smile.

“Y-Yeah…” Swift Fear says and then looks at the pile of guns as the Rangers arrive.

“So these are the ponies you’re traveling with Swift? Interesting bunch you lot.”

Nightfire steps forward and in front of Swift. “She’s with me. Now please tell me who you are so I can properly thank you,” He says with a polite but cautious tone.

“My name is Star Paladin Root Beer and no thanks is necessary. Just give us those Pip-Bucks of yours then we’ll call it even.”

“You’re not getting these! They have belonged to the members of my guard ever since the Great War and I’ll be damned if they lose family relics,” Nightfire says and then spreads his wings, the trench coat having covered his wings from sight of the Rangers until then.

At the very moment his wings were in full sight, the Rangers quickly took aim at him with all of their weapons as Nightfire’s guards all quickly used their magic to grab a weapon from the pile that Swift had brought back while Nightfire remained standing still looking into the visor of the lead Steel Ranger. “You’re one of those blasted Alicorns! We have orders to take you out on sight but how is it that you have this many ponies following you?”

“For the record, I have no idea what you mean about those other Alicorns but are you referring to Celestia or Luna?” Nightfire asks with a hopeful tone starting to enter his voice as he keeps his gaze locked on the Steel Rangers.

“Celestia and Luna have long since been gone. Hasn’t anypony told you?”

Nightfire involuntarily steps back with his left rear hoof and then looks down to the ground with a tear starting to form in the corner of his right eye. “You know… I’ve had it with having guns pointed at me. So unless you’re going to shoot I have a proposition for you. You lie down your weapons and you and I settle this like ponies would long ago; a duel, one on one. If I win you turn away and leave us alone, and if I lose… what would you want?”

“You’re going to bargain with me?” Star Paladin Root Beer replied and then lowered her weapons as if considering his offer.

“You’re the leader of your little group of Steel Rangers just like how I’m the leader of these ponies behind me taking aim at you,” Nightfire says then pauses as a gust of wind blows through the area they were in, blowing Nightfire’s mane all across his face which causes him to blink.

“And what does that mean to you?”

“That means that you and I are the two highest ranking here. So either agree to my proposal or we settle this in a fire fight that’ll maybe kill all of us,” Nightfire says and then lifts his head and looks back into her visor. “It’s one of the other, make up your mind.”

The Steel Ranger pauses and then looks back at the ponies who were behind the Alicorn and then gives a chuckle behind her visor. “You know what? If I win this little duel of ours I get to kill you and take your Pip-Buck.”

Nightfire looks at the Ranger and then sighs softly. “You’re on. But I think that we should make this fair for the two of us. We set a barrier and if one of us steps out of it they lose,” Nightfire says and feels each of the ponies behind him shocked that he’d put something like that before an opponent.

“Sir are you nuts?” Warlord asks stepping forward, before one of the Steel Ranger’s turned his mini gun toward him.

“I’m sure Warlord. Now do you agree?” Nightfire asks as he looks at the Ranger standing before him.

“Deal. I’ll give you a few minutes to prepare,” She says and then turning away as the other clear out a path for her while keeping their weapons trained on the ponies behind Nightfire.

Nightfire turns away and then looks at the ponies behind him with a sigh as they all look at him with shocked expressions. “I know what you all must think of this plan of mine.”

“What we think of your plan?! You’re plan is suicidal at best!” Warlord exclaims as he steps aggressively toward Nightfire before feeling his sister lay a hoof on his shoulder.

“Brother I may not agree on his plan but-“ She began only for him to knock her hoof away with his own.

“Do you know what’s at stake here?! If he dies then-“ He begins as if he was going to go on a rant before Nightfire presses a hoof to Warlord’s shoulder.

“Enough Warlord,” Nightfire says calmly. “I need you to keep calm and then know this: I know that you mean well and would want to try and talk me out of this or even try to take my place in the duel but I made my choice and I will face the consequences of my actions,” Nightfire says and then leans his head down and looks into Warlord’s eyes. “I see you as a close friend… maybe even something more if things work out for us.”

Warlord looks into his eyes and then his aggression seems to leave his body as quickly as it had built up. “What are you saying?”

“I know you’re smart, that’s why it shouldn’t be hard for you to figure it out,” Nightfire replies as his horn glows and then pulls off his trench coat and each article of clothing on his body. “Hold onto these, and put my weapon back in their holsters.”

“Y-Yes Sir,” Warlord says as he looks down at the clothes he is now holding as Nightfire stretches his wings widely before folding them against his body as he turns back to see the mare who had gotten herself out of her armor. Her light brown mane cropped back and her tail was short and her green eyes were looking at the now naked Alicorn.

“Keep everypony safe if I lose here Warlord, you will be the one in charge,” Nightfire says before he walks past the Rangers and picks up a stick with his magic and draws a 50’ by 50’ square and then tosses it away. “Ready?”

The mare pops her neck and then slowly lowers into a fighting stance and nods.

Nightfire nods back and then settles into his own fighting stance and takes a deep breath, ready for the fight of his life.

Dark Reawakening

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"There you go, acting all high and mighty again! You don't honestly believe we're equals do you?"

As Nightfire and Star Paladin Root Beer circle each other inside the large square Nightfire makes quick observations about her. ‘Damn… she’s got more muscle tone than I was anticipating, and she seems to be a combat magic user. However I’m not the defenseless colt I used to be,’ He thinks as he spreads his wings halfway, as if readying himself for flight.

Root Beer stops and then her horn begins to glow as several rocks lift from the ground and then speed toward Nightfire.

He smiles and then quickly calls up a magic shield of his own causing the rocks to bounce off harmlessly. “Is that really all you have?” He asks as he picks up several of the stones that had bounced off of his shield and then sends them rocketing at her like bullets which causes her to begin running to the right to avoid the rocks that would’ve pierced her body.

“I’ve got more than what you think!” She cries out and then starts running at him.

Nightfire smiles and then releases his magic causing the shield that had surrounded him to vanish as he grins and then waits for her to get closer and then jumps over her and throws a punch at her back and causes her front left foreleg to collapse from under her and cause her to roll to catch herself as Nightfire lands back on the ground and turn to face her. “Come on Root Beer… I know that as a Steel Ranger you can do better than this.”

She pants and looks down at the ground as she slowly gets back onto her hooves and then shakes her head. “If you want the best of a Ranger… then here I come!” She says as she stands back on her hooves as tall as she can and stares Nightfire down.

“You Steel Rangers were once a symbol during the war. A symbol that we would endure against the zebra but…” Nightfire closes his eyes and stands tall on his hooves as a tear slides down his cheek. “You failed my family, you failed Equestria.”

“That happened two hundred years ago and you cannot put the blame on us!” Root Beer shouts and her horn begins glowing as she then fires a beam of magic at the Alicorn across the small arena from her.

He reacted almost immediately to the sound of her horn glowing with magic, the gentle hum and then ducks as her magic shoots over his head and he shoots a beam of magic back at her only meaning to stun and not actually cause major damage.

She watches as he magic overshot Nightfire and was struck by a beam of Nightfire’s own causing her to skid back a few inches nearly pushing her out again. “I’m not done with you!”

“Come on Root Beer, I know you have to understand that you’re outclassed. I’m an Alicorn and you’re only a Unicorn. Betting that the Steel Rangers don’t teach many offensive spells other than the bare basics. Those alone won’t make a difference against somepony like me,” Nightfire comments and sighs softly as he looks up at the sky and then back to the ground.

“What do you know about Steel Ranger training methods?! You can’t possibly know what we go through to become Rangers!”

“It’s true I don’t know all of the details… but I am aware of a few things about your… group. First is that you are who you are due to Applejack creating the iconic armor to protect our ponies fighting against the zebra. The first armor was made for the one and only Applesnack. The first Steel Ranger and the only one that Applejack knew she could always trust,” Nightfire says and then spreads his wings wide and settles back into his fighting stance. “That’s the only Steel Ranger I could honestly say is my friend. So far, you and your group here have my thanks only for saving us from the slavers. Other than that I don’t trust or see any reason to affiliate with your kind.”

“You speak with such authority when words are worthless. Here and now this is combat. One of us wins and the other loses, plain and simple,” Root Beer replies and then begins walking to her right cautiously while she eyed Nightfire closely.

He sighs and then starts to approach her, inching closer ready to act in a moment’s notice as his horn hums softly and the air around him grows warmer. Then when he was about five feet from her he unleashed a small ball of fire at her, intending to force her into action more than actually strike out against her.

She steps back at first to give herself a moment more to react before jumping forward and rolling onto her belly as the ball of fire passes over her, nearly catching her short mane on fire. “What are you trying to do!?”

“I don’t want to fight you. I’ve made it… a policy of mine not to take a life unless I absolutely have to. But since all I have to do is just win this little fight of ours I’m just testing all I need.”

“Testing? What are you testing!?” Root Beer shouts at him and then shoots another blast of magic at him which he dodged easily.

“Testing some old magic that I used when I was younger. Old basics if anything to me,” Nightfire replies and then slams a hoof onto the ground as his horn flashes and a small pillar of stone shot up from the ground in front of him. “I’ll defend myself and incapacitate my enemies unless I am forced.”

“You really are a fool!” Root Beer replies and then she runs forward, sliding around the pillar and then rushes at him with anger in her eyes.

Nightfire waits for a moment and then jumps into the air and spreads his wings to slow his decent back down to the ground and flaps them once to keep himself aloft. ‘Shit… she’s showing to be more of a challenge then I anticipated. She’s got more stamina then I would’ve thought for a Unicorn.’ As he looks down at her a gunshot rings out and Nightfire flies a little to the left to avoid a bullet that flew by his head.

“Either you get down here or we open fire and we take down one of your guards!” One of the Steel Rangers from outside of the square says as his minigun then focuses on Nightfire’s guard then another shot ring out, as Peaceful Heart screams out in pain.

“You bastards!” Nightfire exclaims and then flies back down to the ground with haste and stares Root Beer down angrily.

“If you want to help her then beat me!”

“You’re going to regret that you stupid bitch!” Nightfire exclaims and spreads his wings wide to intimidate her. “If you think you have the nerve to take me out here and now then bring it!”

The mare smirks and then rushes forward with speed that Nightfire hadn’t anticipated her having before he activated S.A.T.S admiring how the world seemed to be moving in super slow motion and targeted her torso with as many punches as he could. Once it activated he lunged forward in her path and let her tackle him, bracing his rear two hooves Nightfire quickly pushed her back and landed four of the six punches in his targeted spot making her slide back and cough hard into the air. “Come on! I’m not going to waste my time anymore with you!”

As she pants for air she looks at him with a new fire burning in her eyes and then then looks back at the Steel Rangers behind her then turns back to Nightfire. “I’m not going to let you make me look weak in front of my Rangers!”

“Then come on! I want to make sure Peaceful Heart is ok!”

She bares her teeth and then starts running at him again in hopes of getting closer than she had before. As she nears him, his body ready to react to anything, she jumps up and momentarily catches him off guard long enough to wrap her two forelegs around his neck and wrestle him down onto the ground in a tangle of bodies and limbs.

Nightfire flexes his neck to try and prevent himself from being choked out and looks at his guards, seeing them caring for Peaceful Heart. ‘I’m on my own right now and I’m not about to die by being choked out!’

“Just! Die!” Root Beer shouts out as she tightens her grip on Nightfire’s throat hoping to end it faster.

Nightfire closes his eyes and gags a little as he tries to draw in breath and finds that he barely could. In a last ditch effort to free himself his horn glows brightly and then he slammed his right front hoof down onto the ground, creating a small dome of blue electricity, shocking himself and Root Beer with the spell.

The unicorn cries out and struggles hard to keep from shaking as the electricity coursing through her body and then her limbs spasm just enough for Nightfire to slip his head from her grip and kick her away, coughing as the dome vanishes away suddenly.

As Nightfire places a hoof gently against his throat as he takes long and deep gasps of breath as he feels his neck throb a little from the near strangulation he had suffered. “Are you… you done?”

The mare looks up from the ground at Nightfire and bares her teeth at him as a scream of frustration tears free from her muzzle. “Never!”

Nightfire shakes his head slowly and then gets to his hooves as quick as he could before kneeling down and vomiting onto the ground then wipes his muzzle with the back of his right foreleg. “I’m done… bring it on.”

She rolls back onto her hooves and glares at him before lurking slowly in a wide circle around him while her horn glows gently, along with several medium sized rocks before they rush toward him causing him to roll out of the way and then his horn glows brightly as his magic aura surrounds her and lifts her into the air kicking and thrashing. “Give up! I am not keeping this going much longer.”

“No! I’m not going to lose to an Alicorn!” She cries out and turns to face him with rage in her eyes.

Nightfire looks down at the ground and shakes his head before rearing back onto his rear hooves, his front ones poised as if he was posing for a portrait and as he stomped down, he swung his head forward lifting her into the air further and then slamming her down hard into the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs. “Are you done yet?”

The injured mare looks at Nightfire while struggling to get air back into her lungs in shallow breathes. “N-No… not yet.”

Nightfire bares his teeth and then rears back again, lifting her back into the air and then the same action as before repeats itself. This time Nightfire looks at her with almost pity in his eyes. ‘I don’t understand this mare’s determination, is she really willing to die than admit defeat to me?’ Nightfire slowly stands back up and looks down at her. “Why not just admit defeat and live to fight another day? I’m sure it must be a better alternative than dying.”

“I won’t give up… not until you’re dead at my hooves,” She replies as she looks up into his eyes, eyebrows furrowed.

Nightfire shakes his head slowly and then looks away to his guards, who were still working on Peaceful Heart. “I’m sorry, but that ego of yours will be the death of you if you don’t surrender.”

“So what? You’ll kill me? I thought you won’t kill unless it’s necessary?”

“If I have to kill you to win this challenge then so be it. But I’d rather not because I think just simply killing off my foes-“

“You’re spineless! If you were anything like the Alicorns we’ve seen they’d have maybe taken one of us down before dying!”

Nightfire looks down at her and then shakes his head slowly. “You don’t understand do you? Killing isn’t something I do without cause. Only if I know I have to do it.”

“The Wasteland will eat you alive… you’ll never survive here!” She says then spits at his hooves with distaste on her face.

The Alicorn sighs and then rears back again, this time spreading his wings wide as if he was going to take to the sky but then slams her back down to the hard ground beneath her.

“Do you give up?”

“No!”

Again she is slammed onto the ground, this time she let out more of a sharp cry.

“Give up! I don’t want to kill you!”

“Never…”

“Please just give up!” Nightfire pleads as he lifts her back up into the air one last time before slamming her down hard onto the ground, this time at least breaking a rib or two.

As her two ribs broke, limiting her ability to breathe correctly without pain, she finally looks up into his eyes, tears at the corners of her eyes. “As much… as I hate saying this… I cannot continue to fight…”

Nightfire’s magic immediately fades from around her and then forms around the hilt of his .44 from outside the dirt square, floats it over quickly and points it at her as he pants heavily, ignoring the many guns that turned to point at him. “If any of you try to attack us again… I’ll put an end to you faster than the war with the Zebra ended.”

The other Steel Rangers quickly turn their guns toward Nightfire and stare him down as he slowly steps back toward his guard before finally turning away from them and running toward Peaceful Heart. When he finally sees her, her two children are holding her front two hooves tightly, tears streaming down their cheeks and her breath coming in slowly and shallowly. Nightfire quickly stepped forward, his hoof falling into a large puddle of blood from her injury and he quickly starts trying to use whatever healing magic he had to help her dropping his gun in the process. ‘I’m not going to lose you to… I just won’t let that happen!’ Nightfire thinks with all of his mind before the medic places a hoof on Nightfire’s shoulder.

“Sir… there’s nothing we can do. We’re…” He begins and then Nightfire pushes him away with a single hoof and kneels beside her, feeling her blood soak into his dark blue fur.

“I’m not going to let her die!” Nightfire shouts and turns to face their medic. “Do you hear me!?”

Both Little Love and Warlord look at Nightfire with a small glimmer of hope in their eyes as he turns back and places his horn against her wound and the magic seemed to just flow into it.

“Night-Nightfire…” Peaceful Heart manages to barely breathe out forcing him to lift his head and look into her eyes. “It’s too late for me… I feel it coming; the light, it’s warm and I s-see my husband. I wa-want you to ke-keep my children saf-“ She then winces and coughs, her blood shooting out of her muzzle and sprays his face causing him to shudder slightly. “I kn-know that you’ll ma-make Equestria great again,” She replies and then pulls her right hoof gently out of Little Love’s grip and places it against his cheek. “Promise me… to keep these two sa-safe. Please.”

Nightfire’s horn ceases to glow and then he raises a hoof and holds her hoof against his cheek, feeling blood on her hoof leave a mark behind. “I promise… but you’re going to be ok.”

She smiles and then coughs again, giving him a smile when her coughing was done. “Warlord. Little Love. I love you both… no matter how man-many times I say it it’s always true. Your father and I… we did all we could for you both. I ju-just wish I could see wh-what happens next,” She says softly, tears sliding down her cheeks and down her neck. “Warlord… protect your sister, promise me.”

Warlord leans down and kisses his mother’s hoof firmly as tears drip down from his eyes and then leans down and presses his forehead against her chest. “Moth-Mother… I don’t want to lose you…”

“I’ll never leave you… I’ll always be in your heart…” She replies softly and then looks over at her daughter who looked as if she was the one about to die, seeing her mother dying in front of her.

“Little Love… I know that yo-you’re a gentle soul, but I need you to be br-brave. Be like your father; strong, and assured. Never forget what the tw-two of us taught you both.”

Little Love leans down and openly sobs, her cries echoing across the entire of the Wasteland. Her cries hurting Nightfire’s ears more than any injury that he had ever suffered in his life. “Mother… I don’t wa-want to lose you to!” She cries and hugs her mother tightly. Her muscles shaking from the tightness of her hug as she buries her face into her mother’s chest, mere inches away from the bullet wound that was taking her life away.

“Listen to me… I don’t have a lot of ti-time left. Please… stay smart, and listen to Nightfire. He’s the best ho-hope to help Equestria back on-onto its hooves. I lov-love you, both of you more than anyth-anything in the world. Nightfire… I believe in you. You and al-all of the Guard. Don’t forget your goals, what defines you. Goo-Goodbye,” She says as she looks at her children and Nightfire as the light in her eyes dies slowly and then her body goes limb in the three’s hold.

“Mother… please wake up. You can’t be gone! You just can’t be!” Little Love cries out and hugs her mother closely then screams in despair as Warlord looks down at her mother in disbelief and shock.

‘Peaceful Heart… why? Why did it have to be you? Out of everypony in the guard, it was you who died…’ Nightfire thinks as tears flow freely down his cheeks as he looks down at her face, shockingly seeing a small smile on her muzzle. Suddenly it felt as if something inside of his snapped, opening something dark inside of him.

Suddenly the group of the Steel Rangers were surrounded with Nightfire’s magic aura and lifted into the air and their weapons creaking and cracking from the pressure that was being pushed from all sides. “What the fuck is this!?”

“What the fuck is going on!?”

“Do you really want to know?” Nightfire asks, his voice sounding distorted and dark enough that Root Beer’s fur actually raised up from fear. “Or would you rather me show you?”

The Steel Ranger’s all turn their attention to Nightfire, who slowly raises onto his hooves, his wings spread wide as his fur begins to slowly turn black, starting from his hooves and slowly slides up his legs and up to his body as he turns to face them with his eyes closed, his horn glowing brightly and even the grooves of his horn glowing solid white.

The members of Nightfire’s guard look at him with uncertainty in their eyes as Little Love and Warlord continue looking down at their passed mother, seeming to ignore everything that was going on around them, even when Little Love’s mane covered her eyes, becoming plastered to her face by her tears.

Meanwhile Nightfire slowly started walking toward the Rangers, his mane starting to float from streams of magic that started weaving through his mane and tail, slowly but surely becoming ethereal while his eyes glow brightly with white hot magic. “Foals like you make me sick! Does any of you understand what it is to live by the Rangers old vow? To protect the ponies of Equestria. That is your vow and thou failed, failed your duty and you failed Applejack’s vision of your kind. For that, you all should die here!”

“You… you have no right to talk about… our vow!” Root Beer cries out and tries to use her magic to break out of the spell only for a wisp of blue magic to wrap around her horn and cut off her magic. “My magic…” She cries out in shock and reaches up for her horn with her hooves.

“I have every right. I saw how the Ranger’s got their start. Now I have seen how far you’ve fallen. It’s now that I realize that I was right in the first place; you ponies are not doing any good for this world. You’re only making it harder and harder for those who can’t defend themselves. Let this demonstration be a warning to all of your Rangers, all the way up to your highest ranking. Get in my way and you will face the wrath of the last natural born Alicorn.”

“We’ll beat you! One pony, even an Alicorn can’t beat all of the Rangers we have!” A stallion that was struggling against Nightfire’s magic exclaims confidently.

“Is that so little pony? If I was in the mood maybe I’d consider your challenge but for now…” Nightfire pauses and then grins as his magic begins pressing on each of the Rangers slowly, causing their armor to crack from the pressure. “I can keep this up till the pressure around you all is like you're at the bottom of the ocean. You won’t be able to move while your armor creaks and strains to keep you from being crushed!” Just as Nightfire finished his sentence, he feels two sets of forelegs wrap around his rear legs causing him to look away from the Rangers and see Warlord and Little Love hugging his rear legs.

“Stop Nightfire! Think about what you’re doing! You spared Root Beer death because of your vow to never take a life unless needed,” Warlord pleads, tears still sliding down his cheeks.

“Please listen to us! You’re not a monster! You’re a pony like us! Don’t let your anger consume you!” Little Love begs, her voice cracking from the crying she had done but her voice hadn’t seemed stronger in that moment than in any other.

“Warlord… Little Love…” Nightfire says softly as his mane slowly returns to normal, his fur returning to his normal blue, his eyes losing the white glow and finally his magic fading from his horn causing the Rangers to drop to the ground in a clatter of armor. Quickly Nightfire pulled the siblings from his rear legs and into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” Nightfire says softly so only the two of them heard, tears sliding down his own cheek slowly. “Thank you for snapping me out of that… state.”

“Just promise us… we’ll never have to see it again. Please,” Warlord and Little Love both say as they pull back from the hug and look into his eyes.

“I promise…” Nightfire says and then slowly turns to see the Rangers beginning to recover from the magic that Nightfire had used against them. “If any of you want to live to tell your superiors of me, you better leave before I change my mind,” Nightfire says in a dark tone of voice, making even himself shiver from it.

“Let’s go. We have to report this… incident to Elder Cottage Cheese ASAP,” Root Beer says as she gets into her armor once more and then before pulling her helmet back on addresses Nightfire and his guard once more. “If you continue following this Alicorn you will all pay for it in the end. Mark my words.”

“He’s never led us astray before! Maybe he has made some mistakes, but he’s always had our best interests in mind!” Swift Fear shouts at them before collapsing onto the ground in another coughing fit as Iron Sun steps in front of her and pats her back with a hoof.

“They’re not worth it Swift, never have been,” He says solemnly, a few stray tears sliding down his cheeks.

“He’s right Swift, those Ranger’s don’t know what we’re going through to lose family,” Nightfire says as the Ranger’s walk away, one of them muttering about his broken weapon.

After they left, Nightfire looks back at Warlord and Little Love who had turned back and were standing over their mother, holding each other and then he walks up to them and drapes a wing across their backs. “I’m sorry… I wish there was something I could’ve done to stop this.”

Little Love and Warlord look back and up into his eyes, more fresh tears staining their cheeks and eyes and then turn and burry their faces in his chest to sob again. Nightfire wraps them up with his wing, his large feathers acting as a shield from the harsh world. “What are we going to do?”

Nightfire looks down at them while thinking of his response. ‘What else is there for me to do? All I can do is be there for them and protect them as I said I would…’

The other members of the Guard walk up to Peaceful Heart’s body and look down at her, each with tears in their eyes before Nightfire speaks up once more.

“Right now we have to set up two pyres. One for Peaceful Heart and the other for Soven Diamond,” Nightfire says before looking back where the town they’d come from a day before and maybe a days walk away. “I’ll return shortly, I’m going to retrieve Soven’s body.”

“Would you want one of us to come along?” Straight Shot asks as he steps up to Nightfire with Candle Light.

“No, I’m going to fly and bring him back myself,” Nightfire says as he spreads his wings wide.

“Alone? You should have one of us go with you Sir,” Another of the Guard says as she steps up to him. “I can go with you and watch your back.”

“You’re a bold mare…” Nightfire says gently before flapping his wings a little. “If you’re coming then keep up with me.”

“I can do Sir,” She says before wiping her eye to clear some tears from her eyes to show her resolve.

“Then come with me,” He says and slowly lifts into the air with her following behind him. “Warlord? Little Love? I want you to lie down and take it easy ok?”

“Y-Yes Sir…” Little Love says softly before hugging her brother firmly and buries her face back into his shoulder to sob more.

“Yes Sir. Understood,” Warlord says while holding his sister gently.

“Good, we’ll be back as soon as we can. The two of you should decide… who gets your mother’s weapon…”

The two look down as Nightfire and the mare start flying to the town they had been ambushed in as they watch over their mother.

***In the air over the Wasteland***

“Sir… can I ask you something?” She asks softly after flying for a few minutes in silence.

“What is it?” He asks gently, his mind seeming to be numb from the loss they had all suffered.

“What was that… power you used against those Rangers?” She asks softly, unable to really identify what it was that he did or how he did it.

“That… is a discussion for another time…” Nightfire says looks back at her sternly.

“Yes Sir… but I want to know one thing.”

“What is it?” Nightfire asks again, starting to get annoyed by her questions already.

“How is it that you remember so many spells from before the war and didn’t use them against the Enclave?”

He looks back at her with a frown and then addresses her question after a moment. “I didn’t because I didn’t remember them. After I was knocked out by overusing that shield spell I was able to remember some of those spells.”

“So, trial and error?”

“Pretty much,” Nightfire replies in a deadpan tone then halts in the air, flapping his wings to keep himself aloft. “Down there.”

“That didn’t take as long as I would’ve thought.”

“We’re in the air, we don’t have to worry about obstacles that are on the ground,” Nightfire says as he slowly starts descending down to the ground, knowing their flight back would be a little slower thanks to carrying one of their fallen. “So what is your name anyway? This is most likely the first we’ve interacted with each other and I am always curious,” He says as the ground approaches them from under them.

“My name is Tattered Feather.”

“Interesting name for a Pegasus who can fly very well don’t you think?” Nightfire asks as he touches down on the ground and watches her land in front of him before he turns and walks up to the body of Soven Diamond. As he approached, three Radroaches scurry from the body and lunge at Nightfire who quickly ducks and rolls to the side and enters S.A.T.S with his .44 and targets the head of the one closest to him and the body of the one closest to Soven’s body and as he releases the spell two shots ring out, the head of the first Radroach exploding and the second shot strikes the hard shell of the roach and penetrate it, causing it to flop as the bullet tears into it.

Tattered Feather quickly enters S.A.T.S. and targets the last Radroach that Nightfire couldn’t target because it was shielded by Soven’s body, targeting its head and then releasing her targeting spell her riffle roaring as the bullet leaves the barrel of her gun and slams into the head of the roach, killing it instantly.

“Great work Tattered, nice shot,” Nightfire replies and smiles at her for a moment as he looks at the body of the roach and then to Soven’s. “I’ll carry his body, you just keep guard over us ok?”

“Yes Sir.”

Nightfire lifts Soven’s body from the ground and looks at his body before letting it drape over his back, his dead weight making him stagger for a second. “Let us be off. I’m sure they have the pyre’s set by now.”

“Of course Sir,” She says as she spreads her wings wide and slowly flaps them and rises into the air as Nightfire does the same, if not a little more slowly because of the added weight that he was forced to carry.

“So tell me Sir… was the Pyre a common practice for the Royal Guard?”

“Fairly common… unfortunate but it was needed for those who wanted to ‘ascend’ to the Herd,” Nightfire replies and then starts flying forward, Tattered keeping pace a few wing beats in front of him. “What do you know about the old ceremonies?”

“Not a whole lot… but I think that Silver Gleam and Little Love know more about it. They were the ones who studied Pre War Equestria more than all of us. Even their brothers didn’t study it as much as they did.”

“So… seems like that they would’ve done very well in Pre War Equestria. You all would’ve loved it.”

“I imagine I would. Things must’ve been so peaceful and magical.”

Nightfire only smiles and then returns his focus to flying, watching the Wasteland flow beneath them, as if the world was moving instead of them.

After a few hours in the air, Tattered Feather halts and points down to the ground with a hoof, showing the guard sill where they’d left them. “We’re back Sir.”

“Thank you Tattered, for accompanying me and watching out for me,” Nightfire says as he starts flying in a large lazy circle down to the ground with her following behind. Once reaching the ground, Nightfire gently sets Soven’s body on the ground and then lies on the ground. “Is everypony… well?”

“Y-Yes Sir… just waiting on you and Tattered Feather to return,” Iron Sun says softly, tears still waiting to free themselves from the corners of his eyes.

Nightfire pulls the knife from the sheath of Soven’s right side and then draws his own .44 out and studies Soven’s Cutie Mark closely. After a short minute, Nightfire begins carving a smaller version of his Cutie Mark into the wood of the hilt. The diamond of his Cutie Mark chipped by a small chisel leaning against it, almost making Nightfire think his name should’ve been Broken Diamond. “Iron Sun? Care to do the honors?”

“Yes Sir,” Iron says as he lifts Soven’s body with his magic and walks him over to the vacant pyre and sets him down before it. “What about… his gear Sir?”

Nightfire sighs softly and then looks at the brown and barren ground under his hooves. “I guess… we split it out amongst ourselves.”

“Of course Sir,” Iron Sun says and then works off Soven’s armor and equipment off his body before lifting him up and sets his body in the pyre.

Nightfire gets up onto his hooves and then pulls a stick from each pyre and then focuses magic to the end of each piece, after a second the wood catches fire. Then walks up to the pyre’s before Warlord places a hoof against flank.

“Sir, my sister and I wa-want to set the pyre for our mother,” Warlord says, his eyes showing his resolve while his sister, who was standing beside him, her eyes still downcast.

Nightfire nods his head and then holds the first stick in front of Warlord and then steps to the side to stand before Soven’s pyre. “At your count my Captain.”

Warlord pulls his sister close with a wing, making her lift her head and then offers her one side of the stick, careful not to light himself with the small blaze at the end of the stick closest to his face. She reaches out with her magic and then gently takes the end of it and nods to her brother before throwing the stick with him onto their mother’s pyre as Nightfire throws his stick onto Soven’s pyre.

Nightfire steps back behind all of his guard and allows them all the chance to mourn the loss of two more of their members, while he himself shed silent tears. “Peaceful Heart, Soven Diamond. I won’t let your sacrifices be in vein… I promise. I will make Equestria great again.”

As each member of the guard step up, one at a time, or if they were a couple, two at a time, Nightfire stays back as tears slide down his cheek as he watches the hot flames lick away at the two ponies in each pyre as their flesh burns, the hair on their bodies burning away first then their flesh began to cook, forcing Nightfire to look away and cover his nose with a piece of cloth, not being able to take the smell of burning pony. Slowly he turns back after Warlord and Little Love taps his shoulder, the other guards looking toward him, all standing between him and the pyres. “My turn?”

Warlord and his sister nod slowly, tears still on their cheeks, the fire behind them covering their faces and all of the ponies standing between him and the two fires. Nightfire slowly nods his head and steps forward, the members of his guard stepping to the side to create a path for him. He stops a little ways from the fires, the heat causing his mane to blow in a small breeze as he kneels down between the two pyres and draws the .357 and ejects the clip of his sniper rifle and draws a bullet from each of the guns before sliding the clip back into the rifle and pushes the cylinder of the .357 back into place before pushing it back into its holster and sets the bullet for the .357 in front of Soven’s and the bullet from the .308 in front of Peaceful Heart’s pyre. As he bows before the two pyres, Nightfire feels the flames drying the tears that were sliding down his cheeks only for new and fresh tears to slide the rest of the way down his cheeks.

After a long few moments, he stands back up and utters a short phrase in a whisper, sending a shiver down his own spine and then steps back to stand beside Little Love and Warlord. “If you two are ready… we’ll leave on your mark.”

“Not yet…” Little Love replies softly as she feels more tears slide down her cheeks.

“Of course…” Nightfire says softly and then drapes a wing over their backs and pulls them close.

After a few more minutes of watching their mother and fellow guard burn, Little Love looks away, unable to bare the sight anymore as she then quickly buries her face into Nightfire’s chest, his trench coat and barding being soaked with her tears.

“I think it’s time,” Nightfire says softly to the siblings before letting his voice ring out across the land around them. “Everypony move out. We don’t need to stay for all of this.”

Slowly the members of the guard get back onto their hooves. “Yes Sir.”

“Warlord. Little Love. I know right now my words aren’t going to reach you… but things will be ok,” Nightfire says gently to the siblings before giving the two under his wings a gentle nuzzle forward. “Come on, let’s go,” He says and turns them away from the two pyres and then quickly looks at his PipBuck and sees nothing around them within the PipBuck’s E.F.S. “We’re alone and those Ranger’s are out of our range. If I remember there was a building around here that we can go to rest up not to far from here.”

“Think that it’ll be a good idea?” Swift Fear asks as she looks toward were Nightfire was talking about.

“Better than any other idea we might have,” Candle Light says and rubs her belly with a gentle hoof as she looks around at the Wasteland before them.

Nightfire frowns a little and then starts walking forward, pulling Warlord and Little Love with him as the others turn from the pyres to follow him to their next destination.

During their walk, everypony remained silent, feeling the loss of three of their fellow guards and friends in such a short amount of time. Nightfire looks down at Warlord and Little Love who barely lifted their heads as they walked. ‘I know that these two blame me and I won’t blame them for it. I always told Celestia and Luna I never wanted a guard because of situations like this,’ Nightfire thinks to himself and then stops in his tracks as a small red dot appears on his E.F.S. causing him to use his magic to draw his .44 revolver and activating S.A.T.S and looks around the area that it could reach and sees a single Radroach and sighs softly. “Don’t waste your ammo, let’s just keep going,” Nightfire says as he deactivates the spell and holsters his weapon as he then starts walking again, the shadow of the building starting to appear on the horizon.

“Is that it?” Swift Fear asks as she squints her eyes as the shadow of the building stands out on the horizon from the fait light of the setting sun from behind the thick cloud curtain.

“Yes it is, but I don’t know if there is anypony inside it. Nothing so far on my E.F.S. in lines of enemies or animals,” Nightfire says as he starts walking forward again as the Radroach scurries away from them as they pass where it had been and work their way toward the building.

Once the group made it to the building, Nightfire lifts his wings from Warlord and Little Love and draws both of his pistols. “All of you wait here and stay quiet, I’ll go ahead and scope it out,” He says as his magic focuses around the handle of the door and slowly pulls it open, and winces as the hinges squeak a little and then slips inside the door and pulls it closed behind him. He breathes softly and then turns on the light of his PipBuck and then presses his side against the wall and looks at the open but extremely messy room before him. “No guts no glory,” He says and peeks around the corner and sees nothing there, only evidence that ponies had once lived there; trash laid around everywhere and broken furniture scattered around the large living room. As Nightfire walks around the room, he spots two doors at the end of a small hallway similar to the one he had entered the building in. He gently pushes the door on the right of the hallway and sees a simple bathroom that had a broken tub inside and a broken toilet inside, the ceramic scattered across the room. Even a small mirror was resting against the wall opposite of the broken toilet, the surface dusted so heavily that he could barely make himself out on it. He turns back to the hallway and then looks at the last door and holsters his .44 and readies the .357 and pulls the door open slowly the green light of his PipBuck filling the room with strange shadows and an earie light.

“Wonder who used to live here,” Nightfire says to himself softly and he looks around the dusty room and sees a single large bed in the middle of the far wall from the door and a single skeleton resting on it. A message writing in long dried blood above the bed simply read ‘Forgive me for my sins my beloved.’ Nightfire takes a step back and reads the message over again in his head and looks over at an open closet that had a few drawers on the inside. “Did you have anything to end it all with or did you just starve yourself I wonder…”

“Nightfire? Sir?” Straight Shot asks from outside the building. “Everything ok in there?”

Nightfire looks over his shoulder and then wipes his brow with the back of a hoof. “Y-Yeah. Come on in,” He says and then holsters his .357 and uses his magic to wipe away the centuries old message. He then turns away and walks back into the living room and nods to his guard. “We’ll rest here for the night. In the morning we’ll be back on our way to Canterlot,” Nightfire says with a soft tone to his voice.

“Everypony take a spot. I’ll make us some dinner before we hit the hay,” Iron Sun says as he sits on his flank and slides off his saddlebags which he had filled with food that he had gotten from the Slavers and the buildings they had stopped at before they’d been ambushed in.

“Those Slavers didn’t eat it all?” Nightfire asks as the others slowly spread out, taking spots around the room. “Candle Light come with me, there is a spot that’ll be more comfortable for you considering your condition.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, come with me,” Nightfire says as he leads her down the hallway and before she could enter, he says a quick prayer for the deceased pony and then slides the bones off the bed and under it with his magic. “I know it’s nothing special, but I hope it’s enough for you.”

“It may not be like my bed back in the Stable, but I appreciate the gesture Sir. Thank you so much,” Candle Light says with a smile and crawls onto the bed, sinking into the old fabric and springs.

“I’ll bring you your dinner, or your husband will,” Nightfire says with a smile and turns to walk away before she starts to say something and falls silent. “Yes Candle?”

“Do… you think Peaceful is with the Herd?” She asks, sadness ebbing from her voice.

“I know she is,” He says as he stops by the door. He turns back around and then walks up to the bed and sits beside it. “Let me tell you something, something you should know. When we all die, we are tested inside Tartarus, many who I have known go through without so much as being looked at, but I have known of many more that haven’t been so lucky. I know her well enough to know that she won’t be so much as looked at by any of the lords.”

“Lords? Tartarus has lords?” Candle Light asks softly.

“Yes, six lords rule the realm of Tartarus. However the one that I fear more than the others is the sixth lord. From what I was ever told about him; he was something like a creator. But I won’t believe that we’ll have to deal with him… it.”

“It?” She asks and then Straight Shot knocks on the door.

“Am I interrupting anything? Cause I have her food here.”

“You’re not interrupting anything, I was just going. Need to check with Warlord and Little Love anyway,” Nightfire says as he gets off the bed and gives Candle a smile. “Hope you two enjoy the bed and food.”

“Hope they are doing better,” He says and then sits on the bed beside his wife as Nightfire walks out of the room, leaving the two alone as closes the door a little behind him to give them privacy.

“Here you go sir,” Iron says as he holds up a small bowl that looked like it had something that he’d taken the time to prepare something decent out of the little food they had from the Slavers and their own stack of food.

“Thanks,” Nightfire says with a smile and lifts the bowl with his magic while looking over to where Warlord and Little Love had nestled down by a broken window. “Mind if I lie here with you two?”

Warlord looks up at him and nods slowly, not wanting to speak due to his sorrow.

“You know, you may have lost your mother, but like she said, she’ll always be with you both. Even when all seems lost, all you have to do is listen to your heart and your souls.”

Little Love and Warlord both look up at him, their eyes red from crying for so long. “Y-You mean that?” Little Love asks softly, her voice raspy from her sobbing.

“Yes, trust me. I know the pain of losing family. I lost my mother and father a very long time ago,” He begins, feeling his heart jump up in his throat as be started. “Discord’s kind were the reason they died… protecting me and my sisters.”

“I’m… sorry to hear that,” Warlord says softly, looking away to try and keep himself strong.

“It’s alright. But they told us that if we ever wanted to see them all we’d have to do is think of something we did with them when they were alive. It’s helped so many times in my life when I missed them so much it hurt,” Nightfire says and then pauses, letting a silence fall over the three of them. “Honestly, there was a line of a poem my mother read to me when I was little, one I have always remembered to this day. ‘When sorrow fills your mind and heart, look to the light of the moon and the sun. Their light is always there to guide your hooves and heart. Even if your eyes are clouded trust the sun and moon to guide you to something worth living for.’”

“That’s beautiful…” Little Love says as she slowly turns her frown up into a very small smile.

“It’s helped me through some real hard times, and I hope that it can help you both. Help all of us,” Nightfire says as a tear slides down his cheek, remembering the last poem that his mother had taught him.

Warlord sighs softly and then leans his head against Nightfire’s shoulder. “I believe it could…”

Nightfire looks down at him and smiles a little then lifts a foreleg up and wipes away his tears. “Get something to eat and get some sleep. We’ve still got a long way to go toward Canterlot.”

They smile and then get up from their spots to go and get some food that Iron Sun had cooked from their limited supply while Nightfire watches over them. ‘I’ll make this world a better place, however I can. Even if in the end my life is sacrificed I’ll know that it was for a good cause.’

Crossroads

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“Welcome back Nightfire,” The mares voice says from the darkness that was surrounding him as he lies on the circlet of light.

Nightfire remains silent as he looks into the darkness. ”Why?”

“What do you mean?” She asks softly. “Why was Peaceful Heart the one to die? Why was it then that your darkness took hold? These are questions that nopony could possibly have the answer to. Not even you Nightfire.”

“But why did it have to be me!?” Nightfire asks as he jumps to his hooves and bares his teeth at the darkness. “Celestia and Luna should’ve been the ones to live! Not me! I promised our mother and father I’d keep them safe… and look at the failure I’ve become!”

“Failure is a part of life. Look at the path that Luna had taken. Even your sister Celestia,” She replies softly. “Things may never be easy but you’re the one who has to take them all in stride and make your life better despite the impact it’ll have.”

Nightfire looks down at the ground beneath his hooves and feels some fresh tears slide down his cheeks and drop down onto the dark ground. “You don’t get it. My family has never had an easy life!” He says and looks back up into the darkness where her voice was coming from. “We lost our parents just when my sisters were learning to control their magic and I was left to raise them! Then even after we became the rulers of Equestria it still wasn’t easy. Tirek, Sombra and even Nightmare Moon… everything we had to put up with only made our lives to live and even when we stood together again things were still tense between us all. Then in the end? They sent me away to keep me alive when it should’ve been them to be sent to the Stable to be guarded by my Guard now. I should’ve died in Canterlot that day, not them…”

She remains silent for a moment before replying, her voice small and seeming far away. “Maybe they just figured that you would be the one to make up for the past where they knew they couldn’t.”

Nightfire sighs softly and then lies back down on the ground. “Then what do you think I should do?”

“Honestly I can only act as somepony for you to talk with. But I suggest going to Canterlot, find your sisters and make it up to them.”

“Canterlot huh? Like how I’ve been heading that way?” Nightfire asks as he shuffles his wings and swishes his tail gently. “Do you think I can do it and not lose anypony?”

“If you can then you prove that you’re learning from the past. If not then you’re proving that you still have lots to learn. Do your best, that’s all your Guard expects from you.”

“Thanks…” Nightfire says softly and then the light around him flashes. “Guess it’s time for me to wake up again huh?” He ask softly and looks up expecting to see the sun.

“Yes it is, hopefully the next time we meet things will be easier for you.”

“See you…” Nightfire replies and just before the darkness fades from him he gives it a small smile.

ϾϾϾ

Nightfire slowly wakes up and looks up at the window and closes his eye. “Damn sunlight…” He whispers gently and then looks at his sides as he feels somepony move under each of his wings. As he looks to his right wing he sees Warlord resting under it and then looks over at his left and sees Little Love resting under it.

“You two… I’ll keep you safe,” He thinks with a smile creeping onto his muzzle and then pulls them closer with his wings so that their backs were pressed against his sides. “I can let you guys sleep a little longer. Considering yesterday,” He says sadly and then looks at his PipBuck and then pulls out his ear bloom and flips through the available radio frequencies that were available to him and finds the one that had been available since they started their journey; one that from they were able to figure out came from someplace inside Manehatten.

As the station comes into focus over the sounds of static, soft and slow jazz music filled his ear as he slowly bobs his head in time with the soft guitar and drums. Then when the singer began, her soulful and beautiful voice filling his ear. “That’s Sapphire Shores,” Nightfire thinks to himself with a grin.

As Nightfire continues bobbing his head with Sapphire Shore’s song Warlord and Little Love slowly stir from their dreams and look up at him. “Nightfire?” Warlord asks softly.

Nightfire looks down at him and smiles then pulls out the ear bloom. “Yes Warlord?”

“What were you listening to?” Little Love asks as she tilts her head and sees the ear bloom in his magic.

“Sapphire Shores. She was a popular singer during the war. Though to be honest I thought her music was to… electronic for my taste.”

“What do you mean?” Warlord asks as Nightfire tucks it back in his saddlebags.

“I have always preferred strings and guitar in music instead of pop sounding music. Another one I really liked was the piano. Such a classical instrument and one that could lull me to sleep or stir any emotion that I feel. One time it was played by a pony when it was invented so beautifully that I cried. I felt as if the song she was playing was pulling at my very soul in ways no music ever could,” Nightfire says softly, a single tear sliding down his right cheek as he gives a sad smile. “Now I don’t think I could ever hear a song that was played so beautifully.”

“What was it like?” Little Love asks softly and scoots closer to him, feeling the warmth of his body sooth her.

“Imagine for a moment, being cradled in a warmth that not only is warm against your skin and fur but also against your very soul,” Nightfire explains as he closes his eyes and in his mind’s eye sees himself and his two sisters cuddling in the warmth of their mother and father’s embrace.

“Sounds… like something our mother would’ve loved to hear…” Little Love says and then lays her head down on her right foreleg and sniffles softly.

“Little Love listen to me for a moment ok?” Nightfire asks as he turns to face her and gives her side a gentle poke with his wing joint. Getting her to slowly turn and face him. “There is something that you should know; what your mother said is right, she’ll never leave you or any of us,” He says in a gentle voice.

“N-Never?” She asks and then wipes her nose with her foreleg.

“If Nightfire says so sister then I’m going to believe him,” Warlord says softly as he looks over Nightfire’s back at her.

Little Love looks down at the ground and then nuzzles into Nightfire’s side. “I believe you…”

Nightfire smiles and then leans his head down and nuzzles her neck softly. “I promise I’ll keep you two safe, no matter what.”

“I don’t doubt you will,” Warlord replies and then hears some of the others begin stirring from their sleep.

“Let everypony wake at their own time, I’m sure we all need it. By the way, did anypony find any cigarettes?” Nightfire asks softly.

“Since when did you start smoking Sir?” Little Love asks softly.

“I guess since right now. Right now I just something to take my mind away from our current situation,” He explains and slowly gets onto his hooves and looks out of the nearby window.

“We don’t blame you… but why smoking?” Little Love asks as she gets to her hooves.

“I don’t really know Little Love… I just don’t know,” Nightfire says as he lifts his ear bloom back out and pushes it into his ear and then looks back at the guards who had gotten up. “Everypony sleep ok?”

Swift Fear groans on the floor and looks up at him, her forehead drenched with sweat. “Not to well here.”

“Medic? Can you take a look at Swift?” Warlord asks as he looks down at her and notices her eyes are also red.

“Yes Sir,” She says as she walks over to Swift and holds a hoof against her forehead. “She’s burning up Sir,” She says as she pulls over her saddlebags and digs through it for the few things she’d need.

“What do you think it is?” Warlord asks as he turns away from Nightfire to address their sick companion and walks up to stand beside the medic.

“I’m sure it’s just a normal fever, so we need water and she needs a lot of rest,” The mare replies and pulls out a small canteen with her hoof and holds it to Swift’s muzzle. “Drink.”

“Y-Yes ma’am…” Swift replies and tilts her head back and drinks slowly. The cool liquid sliding down her throat and into her belly.

“At least it isn’t the Pegasus Flu. In our given situation it could be fatal,” Warlord says and looks away sadly.

“Well thankfully that’s not the case. Somepony needs just to carry her and make sure she is able to get some rest. Or we hold up here for a few days,” She replies and stands up to address Nightfire.

“So what’s the plan with Swift?” Nightfire asks as he turns to face them all.

“She should be in bed, or at least rest for a few days so I can monitor her condition. Thankfully we caught it early so she should be fine,” She replies gently.

“That’s good, by the way, what’s your name.”

“My name’s White Wrap,” She replies and offers a smile to him. “Let me check your neck, the bruise there should be healed further than what it is,” She says and turns to him and leans in to examine his neck. A hoof gently pressing his neck which causes him to wince and for her to nod. “Just as I thought, that bitch was stronger than I should’ve guessed. One second,” She says as she reaches into her saddle bags with her magic and pulls out a small nearly empty healing potion. “This should take care of it, take it all.”

He takes the bottle out of her magic and pulls the cork and sips down the last of the potion. “Thanks White… but do you think it was a good idea to use what was left on me? Why not have tried using it on Swift?”

“Good question, however it doesn’t seem to have any effects on regular colds,” She says and then looks back to Swift who coughed again. “I’ll take care of her. Don’t worry.”

“I have no doubts,” Nightfire replies with a smile on his face as he turns and walks back to where he was before and then stops cold mid step.

“What is it Sir?” Warlord asks and steps up beside him. “What is it?”

“That DJ… said my name,” Nightfire says, his eyes wide and he quickly looks down at his Pipbuck, shocked that the DJ even know of him. “Everypony turn to the Manehatten frequency!” He says and presses his hoof against his ear to block out sound from the outside.

“So you say that this Prince Nightfire was a friend of yours during the war? Seems to me like he must’ve been important huh?” The deep voice of the DJ says to the pony in the room with him.

“Yeah he was,” The other pony replies, the voice sounding very gravelly, like the pony was suffering from losing one’s voice and trying to talk anyway. “Let’s just say that he was important enough to be hidden away so he wouldn’t be a target. It was really hard to do apparently because anypony who wanted to speak with him had to go through a process that was long and tiresome. But even with all of that I still enjoyed each and every second I spent with him.”

“Sounds like you two where good friends huh?”

“Actually it was more like student and teacher.”

“Student and teacher? Do tell, I’m sure my fellow ponies are wondering how it was,” The DJ replies, causing the ponies of Nightfire’s Guard to turn their heads toward Nightfire who looked very shocked.

“Let me tell you, he really was an interesting pony. I may not have been the best student but he was patient and was willing to try different methods to help me learn,” The pony replies and then chuckles a little. “But still, after a while he decided that he should put the majority of his time into helping his sister after she stepped down and gave it to Princess Luna.”

“Wait… so you’re saying that your teacher was an Alicorn? And the brother of the Goddesses Celestia and Luna?"

“Yes, he was their older brother and he took me as a student from his sister’s school for Gifted Unicorns after I graduated. But my lessons didn’t last long.”

“So did he cancel your lessons? Or why would you cancel your lessons with a Prince of Equestria?”

“I think honestly it was a combination of the two of us canceling them. But I was still able to learn so much from him.”

Nightfire’s Guard all look over at him and he stares down at his Pipbuck. “You had a student?” Little Love asks softly as she looks at him.

“I… think I did. But the voice isn’t familiar at all. I don’t know who this pony is,” Nightfire says as his eyes flicker back and forth as he searches his memories for the student he had during the war.

“Anyway, then suddenly I stopped going to my lessons and then the bombs fell. I…” The pony begins and then pauses and sobs softly. “I ne-never got to tell him the reason why I stopped going to my lessons.”

“Why did you quit going?” He asks gently. “It’s ok if you don’t want to tell me. It must be hard for you to talk about.”

“It is… but I can talk about it…” The pony says softly and then breathes in slowly before sighing. “I was afraid. Afraid for my family. I got to them before the bombs fell and then…” The pony pauses again. “My father said he’d wait for us; my mother and my little sister in the Herd… but I became this,” The pony says and then begins crying softly.

Nightfire bites his lip and looks up at the ponies of his Guard, all of the mares having tears in their eyes while the stallions were hugging one of them close to comfort them.

“You became a Ghoul… while you watched your family die? I’m sorry for your loss,” DJ PON3 replies softly and then the sounds of hoof steps enter their ears. “I think that we should call this interview done for the time… don’t you?”

“Y-Yeah. But… can I say one last thing?” The pony who was called a ‘Ghoul’ says and sniffles.

“Of course. Please do.”

“Thanks,” The pony replies softly and then takes a deep breath to steady themselves. ”Nightfire… if you’re still alive somehow… by now there should be a note inside your Pipbuck from me that would’ve popped up. I’m sorry… for before.”

“Thank you for sharing your past with us. I’m sure that if your friend and teacher is still alive somewhere. If not I’m sure he knows you’re sorry. Anyway, that’s all the time we have for this interview… ponies of the Wasteland you’ll hear back from me in a few hours. This is DJ PON3, bringing you the news no matter how much it hurts.”

Nightfire quickly lifts his Pipbuck and flips to the notes setting of his Pipbuck and sees an unread note at the bottom of the list had hand and quickly starts reading it.

“Nightfire, my teacher.

I’m sorry about leaving you but the looming threat of us launching bombs against the Zebra and them launching against us is too much for even me to bear. I have to leave and stay with my family. You would understand why I want to be with my family if things do turn for the worst. I truly appreciate all of the time you spent teaching me all I know. If things work out, I would like to continue my lessons if you don’t take another student by then. I guess I’m just scared… but back to my point with this letter. I wish you the best and if I am somehow alive when you’re reading this then I’ll be waiting to see you again.

Sincerely,

Budding Excellence.

Nightfire slowly lowers his leg after rereading the note three times, unable to believe that she was alive. “S-She’s alive… I can’t believe it…” Tears starting to slowly slide down his cheeks.

While he had read the note the first time Little Love and Silver Gleam silently made their way over to him and started reading the note along with him. “It seems that she really cared for you…” Silver Gleam says with a smile as tears slide down her cheeks as well.

“And maybe you cared for her like a… sister or something…” Little Love replies as she wipes away a tear from her eye. “So you took students?”

Nightfire smiles a little and then nods his head slowly as he wipes away the tears on the sleeve of his trench coats right arm. “She… she was like a sister to me after all the time I spent training her with magic…” He replies softly and then pulls out his ear bloom and stashes it back inside of his saddlebags. “There is something to understand though… when I trained her, it was defense and offensive magic. She had such an ability that I taught her how to control the forbidden spell she learned by pure accident, one that I hope she hasn’t used.”

“Forbidden magic?” Warlord asks as White Wrap steps beside the Captain.

“She had such an aptitude that she learned a dark spell by pure luck. Magic that even my sisters and I went to great lengths to avoid.”

“Was she on the same level as Twilight?” Little Love asks gently.

“The Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle?” Swift Fear asks softly and then coughs again.

“She had quite skill, I’m willing to bet that if they had challenged each other in a magic duel it’d have been a tie. Twilight was… flexible with her magic and some of the ways she applied it, while my old student was straight forward with her use of it. Where she knew she lacked skill she made up for it with creative uses of her magic to shield herself,” He says gently and looks over his Guard. “An example is when she and I spared each other I caught her off guard for a second, but before my spell connected she conjured a shield, not of solid magic. But of water from the air that she pulled together with blinding speed. It took the hit for her and she managed to nearly beat me that time which, was unfortunately the last time she and I sparred.”

“Pulled water out of the air?” Little Love asks softly, stunned by the sound of the feat.

“Used it as a shield?” Warlord asks with a stunned look on his face. “What abilities magic can do.”

“Believe me my Captain, magic can do much more than that. I know and speak from experience,” Nightfire says and looks out the window and toward that distant Everfree Forest. “Can she be carried by anypony?”

“Well… she could be…” White Wrap says softly looking over at Swift and brings a hoof to her muzzle in thought. “Feasibly yes, but I’d honestly recommend staying where we are for now. At least a few more hours, if not for her sake than for Candle Light.”

“That’s true yeah,” He replies and draws his .357 and looks at the marks he’d carved into it. “If anypony wants to come with me I want to do a quick recon and see if we can find more food anywhere.”

“Would it be ok if I came with you Sir?” Warlord asks as he steps forward and gives a small smile.

“Of course, if you think you’re up for it.”

“I’m ok. I’m ready to go if you are,” He says and spreads his wings widely.

“Anypony else? Maybe somepony I haven’t spoken with or spent much time with?” Nightfire asks as he looks over his Guard.

A single stallion and another mare step forward, their frames completely different from each other’s. The stallions muscled and very tall, but still shorter than Nightfire and the mare who was a tad bit smaller than Little Love and Silver Gleam but was carrying an assault rifle on her left side while her saddlebags on the other side seemed loaded with ammo and miscellaneous items. “We’ll go with you two Sir,” The stallion speaks, in a voice that didn’t seem to suit his form at all, nearly reminding Nightfire of Commander Hurricane from when he was little.

Nightfire slowly looks the two over, noticing that the mare was a Unicorn and the stallion was an Earth pony. “Tell me then, why do you two want to come with us?”

“Aside from what you said Sir,” The mare begins, her voice sweet almost like honey fresh from a beehive despite the weapon slung at her side. “We’d like to make sure that you and the Captain remain safe.”

“Alright, if there is nopony else, let’s go. Little Love,” He says causing her to stiffen into attention due to habit. “You and another will keep watch while we’re gone, switch when you need to and I recommend somepony who has skill with long range weaponry.”

“Yes Sir,” She says and salutes him with a single hoof and then looks over the Guard before her. “White Wrap, can you look after Candle Light? I’d like her husband to accompany me on watch.”

“Of course. I’ll go and get him now,” She says and turns to go and retrieve him.

“We’ll be heading out now, just play your cards right,” Nightfire says and nods to Warlord’s sister.

“Of course Sir!” She calls out as Nightfire turns toward the door.

“Come on you three, let’s get going. I want to be back in a few hours,” He replies and steps outside, checking his E.F.S. to make sure that they were alone in the area around them. “We’re clear. We’re heading back toward were we got away, there might have been a place around there for us to get some food,” He says and turns toward where they had set the pyres. “Warlord… you know if you really want you don’t have to come with us.”

“I know… conserving what happened…” He says softly, his voice full of sorrow. “But doing this will get my head off everything but our mission.”

Nightfire looks back at him and the other two look at their Captain and then to Nightfire. “I want you to stay back for support ok? I need you to keep your mind focused on our task.”

“But Sir. I can keep my focus on our task,” Warlord says looking up to the Prince.

“No buts,” Nightfire replies and stomps with his left hoof. “We can take and handle lead here. It is a simple mission after all.”

“Don’t worry Sir,” The mare replies and lifts her hoof and lays it on his chest. “We can handle this. Just take it easy, if not for yourself then for the Guard as a whole.”

Warlord looks into the mares eyes and nods slowly. “Understood Corporal,” He replies and nods to her. “Be safe and I’ll be watching your backs.”

“Thank you Sir,” She replies and then gives him a smile.

“While we walk,” Nightfire says, interrupting them and starts walking away. “Tell me your names.”

“My name is Abundance Source.”

“And mine is Shield Stance,” The stallion replies and nods to Nightfire.

“Good, now let’s be off, it’s a little ways from here and we should make haste.”

The three others nod and they start following Nightfire as he takes point on their journey.

A few hours or so later Nightfire and the others arrive at the place where they had lost two more of their Guard; Warlord and Little Love’s mother and their other Guard. As they look at the scene Warlord steps forward and kneels before the burnt pyres and sobs softly, tears sliding down his cheeks as Nightfire and the other two watch for a moment.

“Mother…” The green Pegasus says sadly and then closes his eyes to squeeze out more tears making Nightfire step closer and lay beside his sad Captain.

“Warlord… you know your mother wouldn’t want you mourning her,” He says and reaches out with a wing to try and comfort him.

“What do you know about her?!” Warlord asks with a sudden shout and smacks Nightfire’s wing away with one of his own. “She was my mother and now my sister and I are alone!” He says and jumps onto his hooves and looks down at him. “We lost our father and now… our mother’s dead!” The two ponies watching from where they stopped look between each other, never having seen Warlord get so angry before in his life. Just as Abundant Source was ready to step forward and defend Nightfire, he raises a hoof and shakes his head slowly.

As the angry Pegasus looks at the Alicorn before him the clouds rumble and soon a light drizzle of rain comes down from above, soon soaking through their clothes and armor. “I know you’re upset Warlord, and I also know that letting you come along was a mishap on my judgement. But right here and now I want you to do something; stand down and listen to me,” Nightfire says taking a moment to make sure his mind was calm and his words would come out even.

Warlord looks down at Nightfire looks back toward the burned out wood and other materials they used in the pyres and takes a slow, deep breath and steps back into a less offensive stance.

“Ponies die Warlord, and a lot of the times it always seems that the good ponies and the ones who don’t deserve to die that go first. That’s always a strain on anypony close to them and I may not have known her long but she was a close friend like any of you.”

The green Pegasus looks down at the ground and then bites his bottom lip so hard that he nearly drew blood. “Understood.”

Nightfire walks up to him and places a hoof on his shoulder. “When we return to where we’re staying I’ll tell you about somepony who I lost when my sisters and I first become the royals we ar-“ Nightfire stops and then shakes his head slightly. “Were.”

“Ok…” Warlord says and then looks up into Nightfire’s eyes and the corners of his lips lift a little. “Let’s look around and get the mission done.”

Nightfire nods and looks back to Shield and Abundance and turn back toward the way they had started at before they were ambushed. “Come on, I don’t think that we want to get sick,” Nightfire says and casts a small shield spell above them to shield them from the rain.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Shield replies and looks up at the sky as everypony walks with Nightfire.

As they all walk Nightfire feels a close eye on the E.F.S. he drew one of his pistols just in case something popped up. “Anyway when we get back to that town split up and look through the buildings. There’s got to be some kind of food there that is still edible.”

Shield and Abundance look at each other and then she draws her weapon and checks it before readying it if a fight broke out while he readied his weapon, a short barreled rifle with a scope on the top.

“Sniper I take it?” Nightfire asks with a smile referring to his weapon of choice.

“No, just like long range weapons,” He says and looks it over and flips the safety off.

“I kind of see what you mean,” Nightfire says as he lifts his sniper rifle off his back and looks down the scope in the direction they were going. “Good news, that towns up ahead. So the plan is we go in, find any kind of food and get out. Warlord you stay back and cover us with sniper fire. We’ll go in and make it fast. There’s not really a safe spot out here for sniping unless you circle around to where those Slavers ambushed us.”

“That’s not going to be an issue. Flying is a lot easier now that we have open air to work with,” Warlord says and flexes his wings wide, stretching muscles he hadn’t used properly in a long while.

“Here,” Nightfire says as his magic glows and swings the sniper rifle of his off his back and floats in in front of Warlord. “I hope you’re a good shot.”

“Don’t worry Sir,” He replies and swipes the rifle out of Nightfire’s magic and slings it across his back, resting it comfortably between his wings. “I’m not as good as Straight Shot but I am good.”

“Just don’t shoot us,” He says and smirks at him before letting his magic fade from around his rifle and then draws his .44 and nods to Shield Stance and Abundant Source. “Come on.”

“Right behind you Sir,” Shield and Abundant say and follow behind him as he takes lead into the town as Warlord flies over the top of them toward his sniping position.

“Think that he’s in the right mind for this Sir?” Abundant asks after Warlord was out of ear shot and looks around the buildings that they had been ambushed by days prior as she levitates her short rifle up, ready to fire when she may need to.

“Yes, I know he’s in pain because of losing his mother… I was too. But he knows what’s at stake like all of us do. I am willing to think that she’s going to be Little Love’s and his guardian spirit,” Nightfire says, keeping the barrel of his gun down toward the ground, ready to lift it if they were in danger.

“Guardian spirit?” Shield Stance asks as he readies his.

“Yeah, a spirit that’s always going to be there with them, just like their father was for the three of them. This time the couple will be together again and they can look over their children from the Herd.”

“I think I understand,” Shield Stance says softly and looks around the area they were in.

“Enough of that for now, stay focused,” Nightfire says as he takes a deep breath and walks up to one of the buildings that he and Warlord had looted before. “Wait a second… did any of you find that statuette?”

“Yes Sir, I believe that Little Love looted it from one of those ponies that ambushed us,” Abundant says gently as she quickly checks he clip of her weapon before sliding it back into place and cocking her gun.

“Good, because I think that finding that here was a sign. Let’s move on to that house there, two down from us,” Nightfire replies with a soft sigh and starts walking toward the building, keeping an eye on the E.F.S.

As they near the building Nightfire steps up to the door and uses his magic to turn the knob of the old door and pushes it open, the hinges creaking from years of no maintenance. He steps aside and nods toward the dark interior and Shield Stance steps up and slings his rifle back onto his back and draws his pistol from a holster on his right leg.

“Be careful,” Nightfire says as he watches the stallion walk inside and then follows after a moment, followed swiftly by Abundant. “Look around. If you find any safe of medical box or something that’s locked let me know. I’m getting better at picking locks but I need the practice.”

“Understood. I’ll start in the upstairs,” Shield says gently around his pistol.

“I’ll stay down here with you Sir. I’ll check the kitchen and the pantry if this place has one,” Abundant replies with a smile and looks at Nightfire.

“I’ll stay here and check this room and the door over there,” He says pointing at it with his pistol. “Find anything useful, grab it and meet down here when you’re done. I don’t want to stay in this place long.”

“Got you,” Abundant replies with a smile as he magic levels her pistol as she walks toward the kitchen while Shield walked toward the stairs.

Nightfire looks around the dark room and then flicks on the light of his PipBuck and sees a few worn and faded pictures that somehow were still on the walls. “A family once lived here… wonder who they were,” He says as he walks up to one of the pictures and then turns his attention away when something caught his eye. He steps slowly toward a bookcase and pulls a few of the weather worn and torn books off the shelves and sees a few small boxes of bobby pins hidden behind them. “Clever pony, but why did I get a feeling that something more is right here?”

As Nightfire ponders this, he steps back and steps to the side of the bookshelf and sees hinges at the side close to a dusty and soot filled fireplace. “Looks like the ponies here were more prepared for worst case scenario that I would’ve thought,” Nightfire muses with himself as he pulls on the opposite side of the shelf and finds a small room hidden behind it. “Secret room? Did this place belong to a solider? Abundant? Come here a second,” Nightfire says as he looks into the darkness of the small hidden door.

“A hidden room?” She asks as she looks at the spot that hadn’t been visible mere moments before.

“Yeah, I want you to cover me. There might be something here we could use. I’m thinking that maybe this home was once a soldier’s.”

“A soldier lived here? What makes you so sure?” She asks as she lowers her pistol and steadies her breathing.

“Well… it’s only a hunch. But a room like this seems to be a precaution for somepony who knows something,” Nightfire says as he draws his .44 and starts slowly walking forward into the darkness, only his magic acting as a light source as he enters a small hallway that seemed to follow the wall toward the kitchen. “Stay close. Keep an eye behind us,” He says as he looks back at her and nods as she steps in behind him and nods.

“Got it. Just be careful,” She says with a nod, keeping her weapon lowered so she wouldn’t accidentally shoot him. “No path the other way. Seems like this pony had an idea for secrecy.”

“Agreed, but I can’t help but wonder whose home this was,” Nightfire says and then sets his hoof down as he steps forward and then nearly falls down a long set of stairs that had been hidden by the darkness of the hall. “Dammit!”

“What is it?” Abundant asks as she raises her pistol slightly and uses her magic to grab the edge of his armored coat.

“Nearly fell. Be careful ok? Don’t need a broken leg now,” Nightfire says as he takes a couple deep breathes to calm himself as he looks down and pushes a little more magic to his horn to light up the hall and sees that the passage leads to some kind of basement. As they walks down the old wooden stairs, Nightfire stops at the bottom and looks at a door at the bottom of the stairs and rolls his eyes. “Take aim. There’s enough room above us for me to hover a few seconds while you run in. I’ll cover you from behind.”

The mare nods and raises her pistol a little more as she watches Nightfire test the knob of the door. “Understood, I’m ready.”

“The door’s unlocked so as soon as I open it sweep the room. On three. One, two, three!” Nightfire says and pushes the door open with his hoof, pushing the door off its hinges and jumps into the air with a flap of his wings.

Abundant rushes forward into the room, her horn illuminating the area around her as she sweeps over the room with her pistol raised, however the room to greet her was plain, dust covered and spider web filled basement. “Clear Sir.”

Nightfire sets down on the ground and steps inside and then looks down, remembering that this town had been a Slaver’s outpost of sort’s days prior. “Lucky us… nothing here to attack us,” Nightfire says as he smiles and holsters his .44 as Abundant does the same with hers.

“We are lucky. No traps, no nothing,” She says and lets out a soft sigh. “Shall we start looking around?”

“Yeah, you take that side over by that desk and closest while I check out the boxes over here and the safe in the wall,” Nightfire says as he turns back toward the safe he mentioned and taps the cold metal with a hoof. As he takes his time to pick it with his magic, he begins thinking that after some time of working on it that he might not be able to open it. “Come on! Open!” Nightfire says as he pushes his magic into the keyhole and hears a faint click. “That did it?” He asks himself softly as he slowly pulls open the door and sees a few small unopened boxes of ammo for guns Nightfire was sure none of them had. “Abundant? Does anypony in our Guard have a weapon capable of firing a .50 bullet?”

“Not that I’m aware, why?” She asks after pushing the drawer of the desk back in place.

“Found a few unopened boxes of .50 caliber bullets. Maybe they’ll be useful somewhere down the road,” Nightfire says and floats the three boxes into his left saddlebag and finds a few random items, bottle caps, a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He discretely places them in his saddlebags and closes the safe. “Other than those bullets there was nothing else worthwhile. How about that desk?”

“A few miscellaneous items. Nothing that we really could use I’m afraid. I’ll check the closet now,” She says as she turns to the worn closest and pulls open the doors.

Nightfire smiles and then turns back to the stacks of boxes that were dusty and looked like they’d fall apart with easy. “Well… nothing ventured nothing gained,” He chuckles and then uses his magic to start opening the boxes one by one. Finding gun parts that looked like if they were cleaned they’d be useful. Even a few empty cylinders that would fit his .357 and .44. “That’s lucky… now any kind of quick loaders in these boxes?” Nightfire asks and goes through the two remaining ones only to find that there was nothing else of mention aside from more bottle caps and a few broken knives, forks, spoons and plates. “Strange, no food. Abundant? Find any kind of food in here?”

“Nothing Sir. Found a few dresses and suits that we could use for Candle’s foal when it’s born. Can I ask you something?” She asks as she takes a deep breath and looks around the decently sized basement.

“Of course.”

“Does it feel like we’re being watched?” The mare asks as her fur stands up a little and her ears set back against her head.

“Hmm… I don’t feel anything like that. But where does it feel like it’s coming from?” He asks as he turns away and looks at her and sees that she was beginning to act antsy, making him feel nervous himself.

“It’s… like it’s coming from everywhere. I can’t pin it down.”

“Listen to me,” Nightfire says and steps toward her and places a hoof on her shoulder. “As long as I’m here nothing’s going to hurt you. No ghost, spirit or any form of spiritual creature.”

She looks up into his eyes and nods a little, her ears perk up a little. “Thank you Sir.”

“I should just start having you all call me by my name. I maybe a few thousand years old but ‘sir’ makes me feel a lot older than I feel,” Nightfire jokes and looks around again. “Let’s get out of here. We have a few more houses to look through before we head back to the others.”

“Good idea. Besides I wonder what Shield found while we were down here,” She says with a smile. “Maybe something of use for us.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Nightfire says and turns toward the door and stops at the threshold. “Feels like… we are being watched. There’s a spirit here with us.”

“Can I please go? I’m feeling uneasy,” She says and huddles close to him and looks behind them in frantic movements.

“Of course. Go and tell Shield we’re moving to the next house,” He says and steps away from the door and lets her rush up the stairs to get away from the spirit.

“Whoever you are, know that you can rest in peace. My friends and I mean no disrespect and hope you can cross over,” Nightfire says seemingly to the empty room and as he turns away and starts up the stairs a shimmer of blue magic blinks in the corner of the room that they hadn’t explored.

***An hour and a half later***

“Well… out of all of those buildings we found maybe enough supplies to last us maybe a half a month. The food may be stale but at least it’s something right?” Nightfire asks as he waves up to Warlord with his left hoof.

“That’s about right. If we ration them maybe even a whole month. Luckily we found some medical supplies and some drinks,” Shield says with a smile as he sets down a full saddlebag of supplies.

“Agreed,” Abundant says with a smile on her face, happy to be away from that one house that made her uneasy.

“What’s up with you Abundant?” Shield asks as he notices her smile.

“What? Nothing,” She says and looks over to Nightfire who rolled his eyes.

“I’ll tell him, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Is that alright with you?” He asks as he sees her obvious fear.

“Ok… but I still feel silly about it.”

“I know. She’s acting the way she is because we felt like a spirit in the first house was watching us,” Nightfire says just as Warlord touches down beside them.

“What’s wrong?” Warlord asks as he slings the rifle off his back and presents it back to Nightfire.

“Thank you and Abundant was scared because we might’ve been watched by a spirit in the first house,” He replies and slings his rifle back over his shoulder. “Nothing happen while watching us?”

“Nothing to report. A few big roaches but I just stomped them. A spirit you say?” The Captain asks as he turns to look at the mare who had looked away shamefully.

“Don’t feel ashamed Abundant. I learned to push that fear aside and let myself stay calm in their presence.”

“You know how?” She asks, seeming a little more cheerful about that.

“It’s not easy and I learned from being in the presence of many foul spirits. It’s something you learn fast, now can somepony please pass me a drink of some kind? A beer perhaps?”

“Can’t guarantee it’s going to be cold but it’s something,” Shield says as he opens his saddlebag and pulls out a beer for each of them. “There were a few bottles all over each house in the fridges.”

“If it’s a drink that’ll be fine,” Nightfire says and twists the bottle cap off the glass bottle and in a last second though slide the caps into his saddlebag. “Maybe we should keep them, seems like they could be important.”

“I guess you might have a point. Maybe they could come in handy later,” Warlord says and shrugs his shoulders. “Pass me one to please.”

“Here you go Sir,” Shield says as he passes Warlord a beer.

“Would you like one to Abundant?” Nightfire asks as he looks at the mare.

“I’ll pass, could I get a soda of some kind?” She asks gently.

“Course, Sparkle Cola fine with you?” Nightfire asks, seeing a bottle sticking out of Shield’s bags.

“Of course,” She replies with a smile and accepts the bottle from Nightfire’s magic and pops off the cap and takes a long sip of the warm drink. “Nothing like the Stable… but it’s something right?”

“I agree. I know that Candle and Swift need the water that we found. Unfortunately it’s not pure. Trace amounts of radiation but it shouldn’t be that bad. I hope so at least,” Nightfire comments and looks around them then back to the empty town. “I still have no idea who may have lived here, some of these looked like the homes of former soldiers who served in the Equestrian army.”

“Perhaps that’s what they were, or maybe what it was made to look like,” Warlord says as he sips on his drink.

“Hmm… anyway let’s get going. We’ve got a ways to go before we’re with the others again.”

“Agreed, I’d rather not make them wait longer,” Shield says softly.

“If any of you have any questions about my past, I’ll answer some of them. But when we get back I have a rule for these questions,” Nightfire says as he turns and leads the way back to their last location.

“Really? Anything?” Abundant asks as they follow behind him, noticing that he still had the .357 of his ready in case.

“Yeah, to pass the time and keep you all asking questions about who I am as a pony,” Nightfire replies with a grin and then draws his .44 and looks down the scope. “Looks like an alligator but it’s twisted by the radiation… not really a threat now since it appears it can’t move that fast on land.”

“So nothing to worry about?” Warlord asks looking toward where Nightfire was looking.

“Nope, sorry for that false alarm,” Nightfire replies and holsters his gun and walks on normally. “So, who’s going to ask the first question?”

“I think I will,” Abundant says and then falls silent for a moment. “What was your childhood like?”

“Going straight for the old stuff,” Nightfire replies and chuckles a little. “Well from when I was first born I was always happy, my parents raised me with all the love I could’ve ever asked for. They also taught me many of the spells that I would eventually use again in my long life. Eventually they taught me how to move the moon and sun like they did before I was born. I would even say that they imprinted a lot of who they were into me. Most of the way I am is because of them.”

“So, they were Alicorns like you and your sisters huh? They must’ve been very powerful,” Shield says softly, trying to imagine how strong Nightfire’s mother and father had been.

Nightfire smirks, seeing Shield’s response as another chance to get a question answered. “Alicorns through and through. My mother was a mare who truly resembled the night and her glory and my father the same for the day.”

“Is that why you and your sisters became able to move the sun and moon?” Warlord asks now beginning to get curious.

“I’ll let that one go this time, technically you’ll be getting two or so questions answered. But that could be open to interpretation. I believe that if my mother and father didn’t move them before us then we still would’ve still moved them in our lives. But I also believe that if my sisters and I had been born to others, then maybe we’d have controlled other things in our lives. To me, life is set of choices and the roads one may take are infinite,” Nightfire says with a smirk tugging on his lips as he looks back at the three ponies with him.
“Think that maybe Swift will be ok to travel when we get back? I know you want to find that mare who you knew from long ago in… Tenpony Tower wasn’t it?” Shield asks gently.

“Correct and we can take as long as we need. I have a feeling she wouldn’t leave a place that is safe,” Nightfire says with an unsure tone. “But the sooner we leave on my original path the better. I have a feeling Canterlot is going to be dangerous and I’d rather not spend more time there than needed.”

From that moment the rest of them remained quiet, the sounds of their hooves coming down on the wasteland’s dried and irradiated soil sounding along with their breathes and the very rare gunshot from one of their guns to kill an animal that came to close and seemed vicious. Soon they arrive back at the shack and Nightfire waved a hoof knowing that whoever was keeping watch would know it was them. “We’re back, finally. I think I’m going to need a few hours of rest before we go anywhere again,” Nightfire says as he spreads his wings and flaps them a little to lift himself into the air and give his hooves a short rest. “You know, I always was the one to enjoy flying and never want to stop. I loved the feeling of the wind through my mane and fur, the sting of the wind in my eyes. Everything about it was amazing.”

“I don’t disagree with you Sir, it really is something amazing,” Warlord replies with a smile and shuffles his own wings in response.

Nightfire smiles and then lands again, flapping his wings as he lands and kicks up a cloud of dust and dirt. “Sorry. Now let’s just get inside and take a little while to catch a breather,” He says and uses his magic to focus around them and teleport them to the door of the shack. “Don’t feel like wasting any time to get a chance to relax a little,” He replies as his Guard look at him with surprise and question.

“Maybe give us a little warning next time Sir?” Abundant asks with a small chuckle.

“Of course, now relax for a little and let’s show off what we-“

“Sir!? You’re back! What happened while you guys were gone?!” Little Love asks as Nightfire places a hoof gently on her muzzle.

“Calm down Little Love, let us get a chance to relax a little before you bombard us with questions,” He says with a small smile.

She steps back once and nods her head. “Sorry Sir, I just worry about my brother,” She says and looks over at him and he groans.

“Come on Little Love, you know whose gotta look out for who,” He says and looks at her past Nightfire’s folded wing as he steps inside and goes to where he fell asleep last night.

“Everypony, looks like we were mildly successful in our little scavenging mission; food, beer, water and medical supplies and an abundance of other random stuff that could be useful.” Nightfire says with a smile as he looks over the ponies who looked at him as he laid down on his mat.

“That’s great! I’m just happy that you all made it back ok,” Little Love says with a smile as she smiles happily as well as the others who are in the room.

“We also have some more medical supplies that’ll help Swift’s cold and other things that’ll come up some time,” Nightfire says as Warlord and the others walk in and settle in their places and nod happily. “Speaking of which, White Wrap, can you come here please,” He says as he turns and uses his magic to dig into his saddle bags for some of the medical supplies and held them up with his magic as she came out of the back room with Candle and saw the supplies floating in his blue magic. “Take these and let’s see if they help Swift get better and let us continue on our way.”

“Yes Sir!” She says as she grabs the supplies with her magic and walks over to Swift and begins working on her, sticking a needle into her foreleg and injects her with some medicine that the PipBuck called ‘Med-x’ and again with another that the PipBuck was unable to name other than ‘unnamed medicine’ with some description saying that it would help with healing most sicknesses, but would leave the one injected with it soreness, dry mouth and slight stomach cramps.

“Don’t you think that such a medicine that can do so much has so little negative effects is kind of a rarity?” Close Combat asks with a questioning voice.

“Maybe it is, but right now I think it’s what Swift needs,” Nightfire says looking over at the mare who was slowly being injected with the medicine.

“It’s working… that fever. It’s already starting to go away. I don’t even feel like I have to cough anymore,” Swift says with a smile and looks over at White and the others.

“Remember the side effects and we should be good right?” Nightfire asks, having a good feeling about the medicine but also still had his curiosity about him as he shuffles his wings and looks down at his PipBuck and flips through some of the screens to read up on some of the other guards of the past.

“I think so. I’ll stay close to her and Candle Light but we should be ready to go in say… about a half hour or maybe a little less,” White Wrap says with an enthusiastic tone as she keeps the medicine intake into Swift’s body slow.

“Good to hear. Because from what I saw on our way back we’re not very far from the Everfree Forest and one of the old places my sister’s and I called home,” Nightfire says gently. “The sooner I check that place out the better.”

***About twenty-five minutes later***

“And with that,” White Wrap says as she pulls the syringe that was once filled with the strange medicine out of Swift’s body and tosses it aside. “She’s good to go.”

“That fast? I feel like a new mare!” Swift says as she jumps to her hooves and then winces as a stomach cramp hits her hard. “Ok… not quite yet.”

“Well enough?” Nightfire asks as he gets onto his hooves and stretches himself out.

“Yes Sir, as long as I’ve got our medic with me I’ll be fine.”

“Then let’s head out. Remember everypony, stay close and try to keep another within line of sight. Don’t need anypony getting lost inside the forest. Considering the dangers that can be inside it.”

“Like what Sir?” Warlord asks as he to raises to his hooves and flaps his wings a little.

“Ursa Minor and Major, Timberwolves among other things. There may even be other creatures that are like the Ursas but they are smaller but faster. If you run into any of them, leave them to me,” He says with a firm tone. “It has been a long time but I know they’ll remember a royal’s presence when they see me,” Nightfire says and then up to the door. ‘At least I hope they do,’ He thinks softly, hoping that they’d go through with little trouble from the plants and animals inside. “Also, there are plants that you must be wary of. One called Poison Joke in particular is dangerous. It will take a quality of yourself and then twist it on you in some way. Twilight and her friends had some pretty funny things happen to them but who knows how the Wasteland may have changed them.”

“What does the plant look like?” Candle Light asks softly, holding her belly gently with a hoof.

“They are a flower with blue pedals. IF you think you see it ask me quickly. I don’t need anything going wrong because I doubt that we have a cure for it on any of us,” Nightfire replies and opens the door slowly. “Gather your things and prepare to move. I’ll stand watch till then,” He says and spreads his wings and flaps them down to fly up to the roof and lie prone on the roof with his sniper rifle off his back and ready to fire at a moment’s notice. ‘That forest may prove to be more than they are ready for, especially this early. But maybe… I should just have them go through and leave me to exploring my old home. After all, that forest was already dangerous before the war. With radiation and the after effects of it who knows what monsters could be inside,’ Nightfire thinks to himself as he sweeps the area with his gun, making sure they’d be clear when it was time.

Shortly after Warlord flies up to the roof and taps three times on the stone. “Sir? We’re ready to go.”

Nightfire looks back at Warlord and nods with a smile and stands up and slings his rifle back into place. “Captain? I want you to do me a favor.”

“Yes Sir?” Warlord asks before he could turn around completely.

“When we get to the forest… I want all of you to continue ahead to a hut that’s near the other side of the forest.”

“But Sir! That idea can’t be the smartest move for us!” Warlord exclaims as he looks at Nightfire as he steps up and frowns a little.

“I know it seems like a bad idea, but I believe this to be the best course of action. But I’ll let the Guard be the ones to make the decision; either we travel together, or you all travel ahead of me alone,” Nightfire says as he slowly folds his wings back into place and licks his lips slowly to moisten them. “I know that the majority rule will put it to traveling together. But never hurts.” He then spreads his wings and glides off the roof and looks over the Guard along with Warlord.

“Nightfire has a question to ask of us, one that’ll determine this part of our journey. Through the Everfree Forest,” Warlord says, addressing the Guard while Nightfire looks on toward the forest in front of them.

Slowly Nightfire turns back and in a serious tone begins. “Before us is the most dangerous place in Equestria before the war. I can’t begin to imagine how the last day of the war may have affected it, there could be more dangerous threats in there than when the war hadn’t started. So,” Nightfire says, looking at each of his Guard before continuing. “The question I present to you all; stay with me and travel through the forest, or I send you all through on a different path and have you wait for me on the other side? The choice is a majority rule.”

“Why even bother asking Sir?” Swift Fear begins with a confidant expression. “We’re going to stay with you. After all, it’s part of our duty isn’t it?”

Nightfire smiles and then nods slowly and looks over the Guard. “Do you all believe her words?”

The rest of the Guard give affirmative nods of agreement, bringing a smile to Nightfire’s and Warlord’s faces.

“I knew they’d choose that choice,” Warlord whispers softly to Nightfire who turns to look back a Warlord with a smile.

“So did I, but sometimes I have been wrong before,” Nightfire whispers back and then turns toward the forest before them. “So if that’s your choice, then let’s move. Watch yourselves and stay alert, we don’t know of anything inside the forest that could mean us harm.”

“Yes Sir!” The Guard shout as they salute him and begin moving toward the forest with Nightfire in the lead.

***At the edge of the forest***

“So… this is the Everfree Forest?” Little Love asks softly as she looks up at the dark forest before them and shivers softly. “It feels… angry.”

“Yeah it does. Like there’s a hidden monster inside that is making this place feel ominous,” Abundant Source says softly, shivering gently from the feeling that swept over them just at the edge of the forest.

As Nightfire looks at the forest, he sees burn marks on the trees and the floor of the forest. “We’re not the first ones to come through here. Looks at the burn marks,” Nightfire says and draws his .44 and checks the cylinder before loading the one empty spot with the correct bullet. “Stay sharp and keep your eyes open. Don’t try and be a hero, just stay back and take care of things from a distance.”

“Burn marks… looks like it was done by flamethrowers or even just a match to the underbrush. But the whole forest would be on fire, instead of just smoky,” The Guards heavy weapon specialist says softly as he examines one of the burned trees.

“A flamethrower? Well that’s great,” Nightfire replies with a sarcastic tone and turns back to look into the forest. “Name?”

“Not really important at the moment Sir, let’s just focus on getting through the forest. But if you really want to know, my name is Fire Flight,” He says with a smile and shifts his mini gun on his fiery colored back to a more comfortable position

“Fire Flight? Interesting name,” Nightfire comments before taking the first step into the forest, remembering what the forest was like when he was younger. “Everypony, let’s move,” Nightfire says as he takes point in leading them through the forest, looking everywhere he could to keep an eye out for danger.

“Has this forest always been like this?” Candle asks softly as her husband stays beside her, helping her along as they walked.

“Yeah, ever since I can remember. I recall my sisters and I made bets to see who could say in it the longest. I normally could but there was the few times were Luna or Celestia could stay in longer,” He says and then chuckles a little.

“What is it?” Straight Shot asks gently.

“Well… the times they beat me in our little dares, were because I got scared. Yes, before you start, even I get scared. When my mother and father died, I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to do without their guidance, and that was only one example,” He says and the wipes his eyes gently with the sleeve of his coat. “The castle here in the forest… is the first home we had after our parents died. To me it’s always held significance to me since it was where my sisters and I lived a good majority of our lives as we started ruling over Equestria. Then the castle in Canterlot, where we lived before the war,” He says and then steps back as a red dot appears on his EFS which made him raise his weapon and to cause the others to raise their own taking aim ahead of them.

“Where is it?”

“What the hell could it be?”

Nightfire takes a deep breath and slowly lets out the breath before sweeping his gaze everywhere, where the red dot was going with each second; getting closer and closer and sweeping from left to right. The ground even beginning to shake from whatever was heading their way. “Everypony… stay calm and keep your weapons ready…” Nightfire says as the dot gets within a few hundred yards of them, the ground shaking harder and harder with each step and then suddenly, it stops a mere ten meters away from them all.
“It stopped?” Warlord asks softly, his gun ready to fire.

“Yeah but… what the hell is it that is in front of us?” Little Love asks as she looks around, using her own EFS to try and find the enemy before them.

Nightfire swivels his ears and then activates his targeting spell and finds that nothing is able to be targeted which makes him deactivate it and then slowly raises his gun and holsters the pistol before a small shift in the air made him squint his eyes and stare at one spot, seeing a small glow in the air. Quickly Nightfire begins seeing very brief flashes of light in the air and then begins slowly making out a shape, upon realizing what it was he spoke up. “Everypony… lower your weapons slowly.”

“But Sir? What about the dot?” Straight Shot asks while looking down the scope of the rifle.

“Check it again… it’s changed color,” Nightfire says and raises a hoof slowly. “My friends and I mean you no harm. We’re only passing through…” Nightfire says in a calm voice. “We aren’t meaning to trespass on your home, we just need to get to the other side and then you can be left in peace.”

“Sir? What are you talking about and who’s there?” Close Combat asks as he looks around, not seeing who Nightfire was talking to.

“Look up into the sky, and pay close attention,” Nightfire replies softly and then slowly lowers his hoof as the shape before them came into all of their fields of vision. Some of them gasped and backed away and one other raised his weapon and took aim. “Lower your weapon… and don’t do anything sudden!” Nightfire commands quickly and raises his hoof again as the large creature lowered its head to look at the Alicorn Prince and then to the Guard behind him.

The large creature then slowly moves its head closer to Nightfire and nuzzles Nightfire’s raised hoof and to the surprise of everypony; it purrs softly in its throat.

“It’s… purring?” Swift Fear asks as she slowly holsters her weapon.

“Yeah but what the hell is that thing?” White Wrap asks gently as she bites her bottom lip gently.

“It’s an Ursa Minor. They’re smaller than their parents but they still are a problem when they begin rampaging. Twilight Sparkle dealt with one years and years ago af-“ Nightfire began as a large and loud boom filled the air, shaking the nearby trees and caused the Ursa to look toward the direction of it and take off into the forest toward the west.

“The hell?!” Warlord shouts and Nightfire spreads his wings to keep himself balanced.

“Anypony know what caused that?” Nightfire asks as he looks at each member of the Guard.

“From that sound… maybe it was a rocket launcher. But it may have been several at once or even a flame made it to a large gas tank,” Fire Flight says quickly, a hoof raised to his muzzle in thought. “But maybe it was something else that was stronger than that. It’s all a guess even for me,” He says and shakes his head while shuffling his wings gently.

“Alright… everypony stay close and be ready to use the forest to hide if anypony comes our way,” Nightfire says and redraws his .44 and starts slowly walking toward the interior of the dark forest.

About half an hour went by without anything happening to them, however red dots did appear on everyponies EFS and when they hid the red dots seemed to vanish as well. Eventually Candle Light asks about the red dots. “Isn’t anypony else worried about the red on our EFS’s? Seems like they are mirroring our movements.”

“Could be right… Sir, what do you think they might be?” Warlord asks, keeping his voice down to avoid any nearby enemy being able to pin down their location.

“Hmm… I have heard tales of ponies inside this forest being followed and their sense of direction being distorted… but what we’re seeing isn’t like anything I’ve ever encountered before. Maybe it’s a new anomaly thanks to the War. Possible it could be the magic radiation that drifted into this place over the years that added to the strange vibe this forest had,” Nightfire says and looks down the scope of his pistol and doesn’t see anything in the near area of the scope. “But I can’t be sure at all,” Nightfire says as he lowers his weapon and then shakes his head. “I can’t begin to understand the effects he war had on everything. But for now, one of you keep a close eye on them.”

As they walk on, the dots seemed to mirror their movements and after they stopped again, a voice sounds out from the forest, moving closer with the hoof steps of others. “Yeah, I can’t believe Red Eye’s got us out here in this fuckin’ forest! Other than the castle what good is this fucking haunted place?” The pony asks, the voice belonging to a stallion and was getting closer by the second.
Nightfire quickly backs up against a tree and motions for the others to do the same.

Soon the voices were right next to them, as Nightfire peered around the tree he was hiding behind and saw that two of the five had flamethrowers. ‘Dammit, only if I had a sword or silenced weapon. Anything I have will only draw attention to me…’ Nightfire thinks and holds his breath, listening to the ponies walking by talk.

“Well what else do you fucking thing he’d want this forest for? Once those plants are burned away we can move on with our plan with little resistance. Though that takes all the fun out of this,” The second of the voices said, sounding annoyed.

“What? You’d rather be back in Fillydelphia whipping slaves and being ordered around by that gryphon that has that rifle?” A third asks sounding surprised by the choice of the first and second.

“Fuck no! But not like there’s much to do anyway,” The first one says and Nightfire closes his eyes and readies himself, his knife ready along with the .357 before opening his eyes and looks to the tree beside his and sees that the ponies had stopped in their tracks. “Look there. Looks like a group of ponies came in this way.”

Nightfire inhales quietly through his nose and with his magic levitates his knife over the head of the pony pointing at their tracks before slamming it down with as much force as needed to puncture bone. Then he quickly jumps out from behind his tree and pushes the barrel of his .357 against the chest of the furthest one to the left and pulls the trigger twice with his magic the body that was pressed against the barrel muffling the sound but not silencing it completely.

The first pony hits the ground dead from the knife puncturing his brain while the other two barely get a second to react before the two shots from Nightfire’s gun send the one receiving the bullets grunt twice with each impact, the bullets tearing their way through his chest, into his heart and through his lungs. As the last stallion looks on at his now dead companions, the one just barely standing now beginning to drool blood and gasp weakly while looking at his chest then to the final one and then fell over dead. “Y-You killed them! You fucking bastard!” He says and then quickly turns on Nightfire, aiming at him with the flamethrower and pulls the trigger, the flames shooting out causing him to duck to avoid the heat and burning to death.

Nightfire then quickly rolls to the side and looking up at him, and before he could pull the trigger suddenly three bullets pierce the stallion’s neck from behind and Nightfire sees that Warlord had taken the shot.

The pony falls to the ground while reaching for his throat as he chokes on the blood slowly filling his mouth and down his throat into his lungs, looking at Nightfire with terror in his eyes as the Alicorn looks into his eyes in turn.

“I’m not sorry for fighting you, but I’m sorry your death was like this,” Nightfire says in a soft tone as he stands before pulling the knife from the other pony and floats it in front of his heart and then slides the blade through his chest and into the muscle beneath his fur and skin. “Go to the herd and be at peace.”

As the light dies in the stallion’s eyes he takes one last pained and gasping breath before lying still.

Nightfire closes his eyes and takes a deep breath through his nose and looks away and pulls the knife from the pony he’d just killed and sheathes it as the ponies of his Guard step out from their hiding spots. “Let’s keep going. If they said anything that’s accurate then we’re close to the old castle.”

“Do you want to take a moment?” Little Love asks as she and a few of the others look at the three he’d just killed.

“Or at least see what kind of equipment they had on them?” Straight Shot asks gently looking over the first one Nightfire had killed.

“Do so if you wish, but make haste. I’d rather not stay in this forest any longer than needed,” Nightfire says with an unnatural sense of urgency.

“Why would they say the plants were a threat in here?” Swift asks as she flips the second stallion over onto his back and begins looking through his gear with White Wrap while Warlord and Little Love look at the first one.

“Better question is what plants in here are the ones that made them carry flamethrowers in the first place,” Silver Gleam says as she shakes her head and steps away from the stallion that Nightfire had last killed. “Their gear is to poor and the flamethrowers are nearly at the point of breaking.”

“Get what you can then, anything that could work later,” Nightfire says as he lifts his .357 and with a casual flick of the gun opens the cylinder and ejects the used bullets and reloads it with normal rounds. “Check them for ammo or even chems.”

“Chems? Why would we… medical right,” Close Combat begins and then looks over at White Wrap. “Sorry. I forget we have a medic with us sometimes. You’re to quiet.”

“I’ve learned to make myself scarce in the worst case scenario. But no offence taken my old friend,” White Wrap replies with a smile. “This one had something on him called ‘Hydra’ and from the PipBuck’s information about it it’s quite the chem.”

“Keep it then for now White Wrap, now if that’s everything let’s get going,” Nightfire says and flicks the cylinder back into place and slides it into his holster and draws the .44.

“Are you nervous?” Little Love asks as they all look at him and see his nervous-like glances.

“Yes ok! I don’t know what’s happened to my old home here in the forest and I don’t want to think it’s changed after all of this time,” Nightfire says and looks back at them all and then looks down. “Sorry for snapping at you. I… just haven’t set hoof in that castle in so many years and I don’t want to imagine what another group may have changed it into,” Nightfire replies and slowly checks the cylinder of that gun and then slides it back into its holster.

“Don’t apologize Sir. None of us have any idea what you’re going through with this,” Iron Sun says as his sister nods in agreement.

“Thanks,” Nightfire says with a small smile and looks deeper into the forest where the ponies had come from. “I wonder what has happened to my home since I was away.”

“We’ll soon find out Sir,” Little Love says as her brother reloads his 9 millimeter pistol and slides the slide back into his gun and cocks it.

“Warlord? May I have a word with you?” Nightfire asks as he steps away from the Guard with Warlord following behind him. Once they were a few steps away Nightfire turns to speak with Warlord and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Are you ok Warlord?”

“Of course Sir… but it was nothing to take that shot when you were in danger,” Warlord replies, looking into Nightfire’s eyes even though his hoof was tapping against the ground.

“Warlord, I want you to take it easy. Leave things to the others for now ok?”

“But Sir! I th-“ Warlord began only to be interrupted by Nightfire’s hoof being raised.

“You lost your mother and your father and you feel like this is pointless now. I get it. I really do,” Nightfire begins, his eyes wetting with tears. “But when I lost my mother and father I knew I had to look after my sisters. To be there for them when I knew our mother and father couldn’t be anymore,” Nightfire pauses and wipes his eyes with the back of his coat’s sleeve. “But I failed them. I failed my family. I don’t want to see you make that same mistake. That’s why I want you to let somepony else take the lead that you’ve led for so long.”

Warlord looks down at the ground and then breathes deeply. “Yes Sir…”

Nightfire puts his hoof back on Warlord’s shoulder and smiles. “I know I am not the best to talk with about that, but I can only offer the best advice that I can.”

“I know sir… I know. But thank you for this,” Warlord says with a smile as he looks back up into Nightfire’s eyes.

“Come on, let’s keep going,” Nightfire says and walks back to the others with Warlord in tow. “Ready to go everypony?”

“Yes Sir!” The Guard replies with a quick salute.

“Stay sharp and Little Love? For now till I say otherwise you’re Captain,” Nightfire says to her making her look at her brother in shock.

“But Sir! What about my brother?” She asks with a concerned look toward him, however he wouldn’t meet her eye.

“Don’t worry Little Love. He just needs a little while to think about something I talked with him about. Nothing really major,” Nightfire says and drapes a wing over Warlord’s back.

“He’s right Little Love… I just… need some time to think about some things,” Warlord says and nods to her, his voice seeming hesitant.

“Okay… well then, let’s keep going,” She replies and looks back into the forest, feeling a shiver creep up her spine.

“Agreed. Let’s keep moving and everypony keep your eyes sharp. If you see anything let me know immediately,” Nightfire says as he draws his .44 and keeps it ready in case he had to respond quickly.

“Sir, yes Sir,” They all reply and as they start walking, Nightfire took lead with Little Love at his side while Warlord walked back with Iron Sun and his sister.

As they walked deeper into the forest, Nightfire kept sweeping his gaze every direction he could to make sure they wouldn’t be caught by surprise. He also kept his attention on his E.F.S. and only the same anomaly was occurring; their same places being mirrored and only seeming to be walking toward them from a long distance away. “What the hell is going on?”

“Seems like the forest may be messing with our E.F.S. I can’t tell if there is an army in front of us or what!” Straight Shot exclaims and stamps his hoof down hard. Then after a moment he jumps to the side as a blue vine shoots out of the ground and shoots toward him as he jumps to the side, he shoots it straight through the middle of the vine, causing it to fall over as if dead and Nightfire examines it from a safer distance. “What the hell are these?”

“Blue plant… blue flower on the end of it… I think this is Poison Joke. But,” Nightfire says as he looks down at the plant, readying himself if more tried to appear. “They look off. I’ve never seen that plant do anything like that before.”

Little Love looks at him with the others and look around the area then to her brother after a moment. “Keep your eyes open.”

“And don’t touch it. I don’t like the way it looks now and I never liked it before,” Nightfire replies as he gives the vine a wide berth, not getting any kind of good vibe from it as he begins walking around the one as his wings twitch and he barely manages to turn his gaze behind him as a blue vine shoots toward him with near blinding speed.

Before the vine could make any form of contact with Nightfire’s body however, Swift Fear locks onto it with her E.F.S. and fire four shots at the middle of it and the vine thrashes as part of it as the part that was remaining shot past Nightfire into a tree that was behind him and collided with it with an audible thud.

“Everypony! Make a break for it! Follow me!” Nightfire says as he spreads his wings and before he could take to the air, he looks forward and on the E.F.S. see’s the dots weren’t mimicking them, but was the tips of each and every vine that was before them. “Stay off the ground! Unicorns if you can lift your friends into the air! Pegasi carry them if you can!” Nightfire says as he jumps into the air and as his magic surrounds a few of his Guard; mainly focusing on the Unicorns so they could keep their magic focused on levitating their fellow Guard ponies into the air away from the blue vines while the Pegasi had their weapons focused on the ground.

Nightfire watches as some of them struggle to lift their friends but then as if the situation pushed their minds and bodies into overdrive, suddenly they all were above the ground. “Everypony ok?”

“We ha-have to hurry! None of us can keep this up for very long!” Little Love exclaims as she holds up Candle Light and White Wrap, her magic forming a third layer of overglow around her horn while her eyes were clenched shut in concentration while her ears were pinned back against her head.

Nightfire nods and begins flying toward their current destination with haste, letting the Pegasi shoot down the vines that nearly touched any of them and tried to form a barrier from keeping them from going in a straight path. ‘What’s going on with these plants! It’s like they know exactly where we’re going and where we are in the air!’ Nightfire screams in his mind as he divides his attention to floating the number of Unicorns in his Guard and keeping his breathing as collected as he could while flying and manipulating so many in his magic. ‘I remember this was easy when I was little… now suddenly this is a struggle. Perhaps I’m just out of practice,’ Nightfire thinks to himself with a scoff and suddenly the red dots on their E.F.S.’s vanished. “What the… where the hell did they go?!”

“There’s nothing on the E.F.S. except all of us,” Warlord says as he looks at his and shakes his head as if he had dirt in his eyes.

“What in Equestria were those things?” Swift Fear asks gently as she strains to keep Close Combat off the ground, her magic never having had been as refined as Little Love’s.

“Now a question; do we dare settle back on the ground?” Straight Shot asks as he looks at the ground and shifts his gaze to his wife.

“None of us can ke-keep up this forever!” White Wrap says as she struggles to hold her spell since her magic was mainly used for medical reasons and instead she lacked the strength to support two ponies in her magic field alone.

“We land now. Everypony just… keep watch on each other and the ground. I’ll keep an eye out with Warlord and Straight Shot for threats out around us,” Nightfire says as he slowly begins flying down toward the ground, slowing the flap of his wings so that a minute and a half later they all were on the ground. The group of Unicorn’s sighing loudly as they pant as the release their magic hold on their friends.

“Everypony down!” Shield Stance exclaims quietly as he looks out and sees a large building before them, a large expense of forest keeping them hidden from view. “Look there,” He says and points with a hoof.

The others follow his hoof and see nearly two hundred ponies all carrying weapons of different calibers, uses and weight. “What in Tartarus? What are they doing to my old home?”

The other’s look over at Nightfire who looked at the ponies walking around the castle and some who seemed to be walking toward a path in the forest nearly a thousand yards from their current position.

“I wonder where they are going…” Warlord says as he follows the slight number of them walking toward it while others seemed to be standing Guard around it.

“Doesn’t matter… I have to get inside of that castle,” Nightfire says as he bares his teeth with anger.

“Alone? I don’t think so Sir!” Little Love says as she steps a hoof down on the end of his tail surprising everypony who knew that normally she was timid and quite emotional.

“No, I’m going alone,” Nightfire says firmly and moves to stand up and pulls his tail out from under her hoof and then looks down as she teleports in front of him and looks into his eyes.

“No you aren’t!” She exclaims with a quick and quiet shout. “I’m going with you. That’s that. Somepony needs to watch your back and I’ll do it this time,” She says with confidence that made the others look at her with wide eyes, ever her own brother who hadn’t seen her this adamant with her choice.

Nightfire looks into her eyes and then toward the castle and sighs. “You follow my every word inside ok? I don’t want you getting hurt because you hesitated ok?” He says and looks back down into her eyes with a calm expression.

“Yes Sir,” She says and nods to him.

“Then… Warlord you’re in charge while we’re gone. We shouldn’t be gone longer than an hour,” Nightfire says as he spreads his wings and drapes one across her back.

“Yes Sir!” Warlord says and looks to his sister who seemed full of confidence. “Be careful in there.”

“Don’t worry. We will,” Little Love says and then suddenly Nightfire’s horn glows with a dull light and they vanish in a flash.

As Warlord looks at the castle before them, Warlord looks at the others. “Everypony, settle. We’ll wait here for them to get back. Straight Shot, you and three others cover our flanks. While the rest of us keep your eyes peeled in the forest around us for any of those other ponies.”

They quickly follow his orders and before he goes to take up a positon he places a hoof over his heart. ‘Bring her back safely Nightfire. Or I don’t think I’ll be able to keep going.’

Obtaining A Key to the Past

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In a flash of blue light, Nightfire and Little Love appear inside of the ruined castle. Nightfire lifts a hoof and holds it gently to his forehead as his passenger slides off of his back and looks at him with a concerned look on her face. However before she could say anything he lifts his hoof away from his forehead and holds it up. “Don’t worry… I’ll be fine. I just haven’t done that in a while.”

“If you’re sure Sir,” Little Love replies gently and looks around the large room that they stood in, the cool stone beneath their hooves making the mare shiver, however when she looked over at Nightfire he didn’t seem phased at all but, focused on something that was hidden by shadows around them. “Doesn’t the cold get to you?”

“I’ve been through worse, believe that. But there is another reason why the cold isn’t bothering me Little Love,” He says softly as he steps forward toward three shadow covered thrones that seemed to be carved from ancient stone. “This is… where my sister’s and I ruled before Luna’s jealousy got the better of her and long before I took up the title of Seeker. Oh the years haven’t been kind, but the knowledge I gained was much appreciated,” Nightfire replies gently and sets a hoof down on the middle throne and looks from left to right, each step bringing back memories from when he and his sister’s lived in the castle.

***Twelve hundred years ago***

“Nightfire! It’s wonderful to see you back again!” Luna exclaims happily as she looks past their guest who had been discussing something of important with her.

“Whose bac-“ The stallion says and looks back and sees a taller, blue Alicorn standing by the door of the large throne room, a worn and weathered long coat covering his back and flank.

“Hey Luna,” Nightfire says as he takes off his saddlebags and sets them beside the closed doors. “It’s good to be back.”

“Listen,” The stallion who looked between the two of them before turning his attention to Nightfire. “I don’t know who you are but I had impor-“ He started before Luna cleared her throat loudly.

“No, you will listen,” She says carefully and gets up from her throne and steps down and looks down at the stallion who shrank back with fear in his eyes as his ears folded back. “He is my brother and is to be shown proper respect like Celestia or I. Is that understood?” She finishes with a snort and gentle stomp of her front right hoof.

The stallion seems to shrink from his fear of upsetting her and nods quickly as his eyes flicker between her and Nightfire.

“Good. Now we’ll finish this another time,” Luna says without taking her gaze off of the small stallion then raises her left wing as one of her own guard; a Thestral wearing dark blue armor and helmet steps out from where he and another of his own had been observing the scene before them.

“Yes Princess?” He asks in a respectful tone of voice as he stands at attention, wings folded at his sides and his eyes focused.

“Please escort our guest out. My brother and I have much we must talk about privately,” She says and her horn glows before she teleports over to her brother’s side. “Please let the others outside know that Night Court is over for tonight as well.”

“Yes Princess, as you wish,” He replies with a nod and makes a move to collect the stallion.

“Please come with me. I’m sure you have to be hungry,” Luna says with a smile as she turns and leads them out of the throne room, Nightfire only stopping for the shortest of moments to pick up his saddlebags with his magic.

“Of course Lulu,” Nightfire says with a teasing tone as they walk through the hallway that was filled with ponies that he’d passed.

“We thought you said you’d never call us that,” She says and huffs as she shuffles her wings with an annoyed look on her face.

“Come on Luna,” Nightfire says and then pushes her gently with his left shoulder. “What fun is there if I can’t mess with you?”

“Maybe play a prank of Tia instead,” Luna replies and once they turn a corner, she turns to him and smiles. “Regardless, it’s just so great to see you again!”

“It’s good to be back after all of those weeks,” He replies and hugs her close. “Have things been going well while I was away?”

“About the same, Celestia had an idea she wished to speak with you about but that can wait till tomorrow right?” Luna asks gently as she hugs her brother back tightly.

“Yeah, family comes first before royal duties right?” He asks with a grin as they separate.

“Agreed. So… the Deer Kingdom was informative?” Luna asks as she looks over him, almost like their mother had when they were younger.

“Very but after spending so much time there I’d like the chance to unwind with my family,” He says and rolls his shoulders, feeling his joints pop quietly. “You didn’t need to traumatize that stallion though. I swear, looked like he was going to die right there in front of us.”

“And let him go on to disrespect you? What kind of sister would I be if I let that happen?” Luna asks and then looks out a nearby window at the moonlight cascading into the hallway.

“Not a very good one at that. But I thank you for standing up for me,” He says and follows her gaze. “Beautiful work tonight little sister. Couldn’t have done better myself.”

“You mean that? You could easily do the same as us though,” Luna says as she looks away from the bright beam of moonlight shining through the window to her older brother.

“I could, but she seems to respond to you better than me. Your magic is refined for the moon, but mine has ties to her and Celestia’s sun. I suppose,” Nightfire says with a pause and then chuckles a little. “Maybe she’s a little upset with me for moving both of them before you two were born.”

Luna then smiles and chuckles a little in return. “She may be, but I’m sure she’s aware of the delicate balance she and the sun share,” The younger of the two says and then pokes his shoulder with a hoof. “Is your scar ok? We know that it must bother you a bit.”

Nightfire looks down into her eyes and then walks toward the window and looks up to the moon. His next words came solemnly. “It’s… difficult dealing with it. Discord has his cruel sense of humor with this,” He says and lifts his left hoof and places it over the coat that covered the scar that Discord had given him when they fought him the first time. “But I think… maybe he didn’t just leave me this scar without cause.”

“What do you mean?” Luna asks as she walks closer to her brother, curious by his words.

“Maybe… it was done to unnerve my mind. But I don’t think we’ll ever know,” He says and shakes his head slowly and turns away from the window. “Enough of this dark talk. I missed you two and we should spend this time together like when we were little,” He says and smiles as best as he could, his doubts still in his mind.

“If you’re sure… then let’s go wake Tia up. We’ve got a prank that you may really like,” Luna says with a devious smile on her face.
“Knowing you it’ll be brilliant,” Nightfire replies as they walk on from the window.

***ϾϾϾ***

“Sounds like you three really had fun together,” Little Love says as she walks up beside him and stares at the three thrones before her. Seeing chips, nicks and cracks in the once pristine marble.

“We always did. Like normal siblings we never always agreed on everything, but I know when we did agree, we were at our best and strongest,” Nightfire replies with a smile and then steps onto the steps leading up to the thrones and sees the cushioning that once was on then worn away to nothing, weather and most likely the ponies outside having torn it away for something. “Did you know, my sisters and I were quite the pranksters with each other? This whole castle has hidden things that one of us told the builders to put in without knowledge from the other two.”

“Really? Didn’t you ever get tired of the constant pranks?” Little Love asks, never having guessed that he had been a prankster many years ago, her ears ready to catch all of the info she could.

“Never did really,” Nightfire says with a smile and lowers his hoof to the ground with a sigh. “It was good to know somethings never changed. The pranks always were fun to deal with and set up. Lost count how many times those two worked together to prank me and vice versa. Luna’s mind was sharp for that and Celestia had great foresight for what would work best for the situation from day to day. Me? I was somewhere in the middle,” He replies with a smile then looks to the right to a darker colored stone. “Luna…”

Little Love looks up at Nightfire, seeing some side to him she never thought to see; not just as an Alicorn or their charge, but as a brother that’d do anything to see his sister’s safe from harm. And that thought was enough to bring tears to her eyes. “S-Nightfire… I can’t even begin to know how close you three were,” She says then steps up and stands between him and the middle throne and sets a hoof on his chest. “But I know, as a sister, they’re happy to have been your little sisters. Warlord has done much for me while we grew up and now I see it from his side and yours,” She says and smiles at him, the tears staining her cheeks.

Nightfire looks down into her tear filled eyes and nods before hugging her close with a foreleg. However just as he opened his mouth to thank her voices from the long hallway that was lit by torches that seemed spaced to far apart to really serve any good. Quickly Nightfire jumps behind the middle throne and covers her mouth with a hoof. “Quiet.”

“What the fuck does Red Eye think to get out of this place? This place is nothing but a fucking death trap,” A pony dressed in haphazardly built armor, covering his chest and legs while a combat shotgun was slung on his back while his horn glowed to illuminate the area around him and his two companions who walked to his left.

“Who knows. But I’m just hoping that I get to shoot at more than just the creatures inside of this life forsaken forest,” A gryphon that had a rifle of some type on his back between his wings while his wings had some kind of blades strapped to them with thin leather straps. His armor was slightly in better condition than the other two he was walking with as he looks around the walls of the open hallway.

“You gryphons and your need to just shoot anything that could even be close to a threat, such a fucking waste of ammo,” The mare beside the gryphon says with an annoyed tone to her voice as she looks over the pistol she had floating in front of her with her yellow magic. Her mane, disheveled and cut short to nearly nothing while her eyes looked straight in front of them toward the three stone thrones.

“Can’t help it. Born and raised a mercenary like my mother before me and she made sure I was good at what I did,” The gryphon says with pride as he stops a good few paces away from the three thrones. “So, these were the thrones of your precious Goddesses hmm? They look fairly normal to me.” Before the others could say anything he draws his rifle and opens fire, shooting four rounds into the throne on the right.

Nightfire and Little Love stifle gasps of surprise from their hiding space and see the bullets tear into the stone, sending small chunks flying into the wall far behind the thrones. Nightfire stares at the now shot throne of his baby sister and bares his teeth as his anger grows with each breath.

“What the fuck was that? Wasting ammo you don’t even have!”

“Are you trying to kill us? Those bullets could’ve ricocheted and hit us!”

The gryphon rolls his eyes and slings the rifle back across his back as he ignores the angry shouts from his two partners. “But they didn’t. Now stop being cowards,” He replies as he steps forward and stares at the holes the bullets barely punched into the stone.

Nightfire takes a deep breath and looks down at Little Love’s equipment that she has on her person and as his eyes lock onto her knife he leans down and bites down on the handle and pulls it from the sheath.

Little Love looks back at him and pushes his hoof off of her mouth as she looks at him with worry.

Nightfire smiles around the handle of the knife and then quickly pushes down on her back and then pushes her toward the middle throne, pauses for a moment before jumping into the air with a strong downward flap of his wings, stirring up dust. As he quickly turns in the air he looks upon the face of the stunned gryphon and the surprised look of two very surprised ponies. As he approaches the height of his jump, he enters S.A.T.S and targets the pony on the right, knowing that in an aerial battle he’d easily outmatch the gryphon. Once he was positive, he released the spell and threw the knife as strong as he could with his neck and mouth. As he watches, the knife flies at the pony and buries itself deep into the chest of the pony.

The pony looks down at the knife now sticking out of his chest and opens her mouth before feeling blood seep out of her mouth. Before she could fall onto her side, the opponent that surprised them landed with a thunderous thud on the ground between the gryphon and her other companion.

Nightfire smirks and looks back at the gryphon with a smirk as his horn glows bright, the magic forming around the hilt of the .44. “Well… interesting that I’d find a gryphon that works with scum like Red Eye. Here I thought that gryphons were smarter than to ally themselves with somepony, who doesn’t give two shakes of his own tail if you live or die.”

“We’ll see about that!” The gryphon says and quickly spins around and swings his rifle around and quickly pulls the trigger as fast as his talons could.

Nightfire quickly ducks and rolls on the ground as he keeps his focus on the gryphon that was firing round at where he had been standing while the other pony that had been between them ducks and runs for the safety of a stone pillar not to far from where she had been standing. Nightfire closes his eyes quickly and as magic floods to his horn, he teleports out of the onslaught of bullets to appear behind the gryphon, standing on the top of the middle throne. “How dumb do you really have to be? I’ve seen your kind at your peak-“

“Shut up!” The gryphon exclaims loudly and turns back to the thrones and opens fire with the last few rounds on the clip of his rifle as he watches the Alicorn jump and teleport out of the way once more.

“And I have to say, I’m not at all impressed with how far you’ve fallen!” Nightfire says as he stares at the gryphon from right behind him with the .44 of his own drawn but not pointed at the gryphon.

“I told you… shut up!” The gryphon says and quickly extends his wings wide and spins around, slashing at the Alicorn with the blades on his wings, barely slashing into the torso of Nightfire’s coat.

Nightfire quickly leaps back, feeling the blades slice through the fabric of his coat and trim the tips of the fur on his chest being cut. Nightfire quickly brings up his gun and pulls the trigger with his magic the first two shots missing, flying past the head of the gryphon by inches while the third shot struck home and the bullet flew past the gryphon’s neck, leaving a burn on his neck as the bullet flew by into the darkness.

Before the rival Alicorn could fire his next few shots, the gryphon quickly pulls out a small pistol out of a holster that it seems the Alicorn hadn’t seen and fires twice, the two bullets slamming into his flank. “So what was that about not being as good as before?”

Nightfire grunts with pain as the two bullet tear into his flank, sending white hot twine lances of fire through his body that causes his magic to falter and drop his pistol. “Ok,” He says through his bared teeth. “Better than I gave credit… but you are missing something.”

“Oh? What is it?” The gryphon asks as he stares the Alicorn down then hears the cocking of a gun. As the gryphon turns to sees where the sound came from he sees his other unicorn partner with a foreleg pulled behind his back tightly while a cleaner looking Unicorn had her pistol trained at the side of his head.

“Me,” Little Love says with confidence in her voice as she stares the gryphon down. “Now lower your weapon and surrender.”

“You seem to forget something…” The gryphon says and before either of the three ponies could react the Gryphon trained his gun on the Unicorn in Little Love’s grasp and fires once, the bullet striking the pony in the head, killing him instantly. “Ponies mean nothing to me, as long as I get paid.”

Little Love releases the now lifeless body of the pony she had captured and looks between the dead pony and the gryphon, beginning to hyperventilate. “Wh-What’s the matter with you?! He was your partner! Surely he meant something to you!”

“That Unicorn?” The gryphon says and rolls his eyes as he looks at the corpse. “Please, he was weak and was only slowing me down. Just like you,” He says as he sees her lock her eyes on his gun as her horn quickly aims hers at him. “You don’t look like you’ve got the nerve to pull that trigger. But… I guess it won’t matter when you’re dead.”

As Nightfire picked up his .44 from the ground where it had fallen, he saw the gryphon lift his gun, already siting Little Love in the crosshairs. Quickly he activated S.A.T.S and targeted the gryphon’s back and head, despite the moderate odds that he’d successfully hit him with any of the four shots he had left. ‘Come on… don’t fail me now…’ He thinks and lets the spell fully activate, the first shot only managed to strike the gryphon’s wing, wounding it, but it’d only take a single healing potion before it’d be fixed. The second shot landed successfully, striking the gryphon’s back, penetrating his skin and causing him to stumble and look back at the Alicorn with anger and pain. The third shot struck true, punching through the head of the gryphon as it his head was wet paper, splattering his blood and brains on the ground between him and Little Love.

Nightfire closes his eyes and deactivated S.A.T.S and lowers his gun as he walks over to Little Love, skirting around the body of the gryphon he’d killed. Shuffling a little to compensate for the pain running through his right flank and sets a hoof on Little Love’s shoulder. Shaking her a little to cause her eyes to focus again, having probably been terrified that she would’ve died if he hadn’t been there. “Little Love, are you ok?”

The shocked mare locks eyes with Nightfire, tears threatening to leak past the edges of her vision before she rushes forward into his chest and sobs. “Wh-What’s the matter with ev-everypony?”

Nightfire frowns and drapes a foreleg around her shoulder and pulls her closer. “I don’t know… but as long as we’re strong we’ll be alright.”

Before Little Love could process Nightfire’s words other voice started echoing from down the hallway that their last foes had come down. Acting on instinct and a memory Nightfire’s horn began glowing as he focused on a teleportation spell, hoping that the long years had worn away the protective spells Luna had set around the room. Just before the spell reached its peak and the glow to intense to look at, Nightfire saw three more ponies, each one with some kind of rifles as their vision swam with bright light.

As they reappeared in a flash of blue and white light Little Love looks away from Nightfire’s chest and looks around at the room that they had appeared in. “Where… what room are we in?” She asks as the details finally start sinking into her vision. Dark blues, blacks and minimal whites that took the shapes of moons, the night sky despite the faded colors and paint that was peeling from the walls and the rotted carpet. “Wait… this is Princess Luna’s room?”

“Sharp eye…” Nightfire says with a smirk as he pulls out a healing potion from the pocket of his coat and drinks it down slowly, feeling the familiar itching sensation on his flank as it worked on repairing the damage the gryphon caused. “My little sister’s room, aside from the decay, rot and fading everything still looks the same as that last night she and I played chess, before I went on another royal trip to the other nations.” Nightfire says and then looks down at his hooves sadly as he recalled what happened mere days later.

As Little Love looks around the room, absorbing all of what he told her while taking in the rotting bookcases filled with books, many that appeared to be ruined due to having been exposed to weather and years of sitting. As Little Love walked up to two of the cases, she looks at the spines of the books, barely able to make anything out from the fading and rot that some of the book had. “She read a lot didn’t she?”

“Quite a lot. All three of us did, she more than Celestia and I. Mainly she did like reading books filled with magic spells but she did write a few of her own. She did have a book she worked on, a book of her personal favorite spells and others she made herself; with and without Celestia’s or my own help. I believe she called it her ‘Book of Shadows,’” Nightfire says with a smile as he remembered her spending hours working on spells that he never understood or others that she made work with his help or Celestia’s.

“She wrote them all down?” Little Love asks, her eyes seeming to lighten up with the notion of reading new spells. Looking for the labeled book on any of the nearby shelves which made Nightfire smile.

“She kept it close to her, when she had spare time she worked on any spell that she could. Possibly she left one or two laying around,” He says as he walks up to a door that had a glowing sapphire above it. “That’s… impossible. I feel her magic radiating from it. But what could be in there she’d want to keep hidden?” Nightfire asks as he lifts a hoof to try and approach the door, only for an unseen force push his hoof away from the door. Nightfire pushes against the force of Luna’s lingering spell and finds it begin pushing harder and harder against his hoof, keeping it a mere inch from reaching it before his hoof stopped cold. Nightfire stares at his hoof and then lowers it back to the ground and the turns his attention to the door. “What were you hiding in here?” Nightfire asks aloud as he steps closer and feels the magic pushing against his whole body.

“Sir… maybe you need to shatter the spell. Otherwise it’ll keep you from what is inside,” Little Love says as she herself steps away from the bookshelves and tries to do as he had, only to find the spell pushing against her hoof harder than it had against him.

Nightfire looks at her for a moment, knowing that she was right but knowing deep inside himself that this was the last shred of his sister that he’d find. “You’re right…” Nightfire says after a moment’s hesitation as his own horn glows bright with his magic then angles his head forward and shoots a concentrated beam of magic into the door that caused a bright flash of light to admit from the door which caused both of them to close their eyes. After a moment the sound of breaking glass reached their ears and Nightfire could feel the spell had broken and released his own magic, feeling a small part of himself die inside at the feeling of Luna’s magic falling away.

“She must’ve been skilled to keep a spell like that going,” Little Love says as she opens her eyes and sees that nothing seemed to change but now the force wasn’t pushing her back.

“You’ve no idea…” Nightfire says as he steps up and pulls open the door, unsure what he’d find inside and leaps back when a tall weapon began falling toward him. As it clatters to the ground Nightfire’s eyes grow wide with shock. “Where did she... where did she get that?” Nightfire asks as he stares at the weapon that laid on the ground before him. The haft of the weapon was a midnight black and had some kind of strange arch in the middle of it. At the top the long curved blade was a dark midnight blue just like Nightmare Moon’s mane. Near the blade was a seemingly decorative piece that Nightfire couldn’t see a practical use for unless it was meant to keep in in place in a sheath of some kind. As his eyes look over the blade he sees words in black etched into to blade which made him narrow his eyes a little.

As Little Love looks at the weapon laying before them, she looks up to Nightfire and as she sees his reaction she steps back a little. “What is it?” She asks softly, snapping Nightfire out of his distaste.

He blinks and then shakes his head a little before replying. “Nothing… it’s just I never thought Luna found one of the sixteen weapons our mother and father made, well the ones that we weren’t given.”

“What do you mean Sir? One of the sixteen weapons?” Little Love asks as his magic grips the middle of the haft of the weapon and lifts it into the air.

“My mother and father once found a fallen star, from it they discovered a metal that hadn’t been seen before in the world. From it they effectively named it star metal and from that first lump they found, they not only made sixteen weapons of different types, but they also made the regalia that my sisters and I would eventually don,” He says with a small smile remembering when he’d seen his crown and chest piece after they were finished. “After each weapon was made and the three of us made our choice of which one we wanted for ourselves, they hid the rest of them away around our old home before what was later to become the old world as Starswirl and Clover the Clever called it.

“Anyway, my weapon and the rest were hidden away in various places that they never shared with us. Honestly I can understand why they did that,” Nightfire says as he moves the scythe around in his magic, almost admiring how the weapon’s blade caught the dull light of the room and then looks back in the closet it had been hidden in and finds a confusing bundle of leather.

“Why did they hide the rest of them from you? Wouldn’t it make more sense to leave them with you so if the need ever arose you’d be well armed?” Little Love asks as she walks up beside him and takes the bundle of leather from him and begins untangling it.

Nightfire smiles as she goes about untangling the bundle. “Well, it’s because with each one they put into it special magic. Magic that belongs to both the sun and moon. Between the sixteen, half of them have the suns power and the others have the moons and together they hold power to make many impossible things possible.” Nightfire says as he steps away from Little Love, sets the scythe on the bed and examines Luna’s bookshelves hoping to find one that he would be able to read, opening book after book while flipping through their pages quickly, his eyes skimming each page as fast as possible but unable to make many words out. With each one finished, I went back to its spot on the shelves as he cycles through them all.

After nearly several minutes of reading through the books, finding only about half a dozen books that had spells that he could make out, he sighs and looks over at Little Love and sees her standing with the untangled bundle floating in her magic. “Thank you. Looks like a harness sheath for that scythe,” He says as he floats it away from her as her magic fades around it and he slips it on his body, getting a forelegs tangled in one of the straps nearly making him fall. “How she ever used this is beyond me.”

“Here, I think I figured it out,” Little Love says as she steps up to his side and helps him fit it over his body, finding that a large section of hardened leather was near his right flank, obviously where the blade would go. As she steps away from him the scythe floats over to him in his magic and he holds it before him and examines the blade once more. “Sir? The words on the blade, are they what I think they are?” She asks as she leans in closer to it and sees the fluid motion of the words.

“Yes, ‘The Night shall last Forever,’” He replies as he spins the weapon around and looks back at his flank where the sheath was and slides the end of the blade into it slowly, wanting to get the hang of using such a weapon. As it slides into place he pulls the end of the haft across his back and rests near his left shoulder. As he settles, he shuffles his wings and folds them a little lower to his side than he ever had to before. “I’m going to have to take a little time once we’re out of the Everfree to train with this. But anyway, those words are what Celestia told me Nightmare Moon said when she thought she’d won and again when she came back from her thousand yearlong banishment.”

“So… it has to hit a note for you doesn’t it?” She asks as she looks over the few books he’d stacked aside from the others.

“A bit, but for the sake of leaving the past in the past I can overlook it for the moment. At least until we get someplace safe to rest,” He says as he opens his saddle bags and slides the few books into them without another word.

“Sir… I can understand wanting to be strong, I really do. But sometimes you have to let that side go…” The mare says softly and steps in front of him before looking down at the floor beneath their hooves. “When my mother died… I saw my brother, who had always seemed to be strong, even after our father died break down to tears. Sometimes,” She pauses taking shallow and shaky breathes to try and keep her sobs contained before lifting her head and looking up into his eyes once more. “You just need a shoulder to cry on, to let your emotions out.”

He looks into her eyes, seeing that her words were true and how much she’d grown up since they’d first met only about two weeks or so they’d been out of their Stable. He smiles a little and then in an action that surprised himself as well as Little Love, he nuzzled her left cheek with his right one. After slowly pulling away from it he saw her cheeks had reddened with embarrassment. “Little Love… you and the others have had to learn pretty quickly that the world is a rough place. Especially you, your brother and Night Star. Things will never be as easy as they were before the war but we can make the best of what we have.”

She nods slowly, remembering how hard Gallant Brawl’s loss hit Night Star. “I just hope that things will work out for us.”

Before he could reply the sound of hoof steps from further down the hall began approaching them, getting louder and louder with each passing moment. “Dammit… don’t they ever quit?” Nightfire says and quickly wraps a wing around Little Love’s side and looks around Luna’s room one last time before his thoughts turned to Celestia’s room as his horn glowed again with magic for another teleportation spell and in another flash of light they vanished from Luna’s room.

Shortly they reappear inside another room inside the castle, this time, filled with a single large bed against the wall that had the hallway on the other side, bookcases all along the left side of the room, again many appearing to be ruined by weather and age. The left side of the room and a desk a few feet from the wall and had a thick layer of dust on its surface and finally on the last wall was a large glass door that had large cracks and missing sections that led out into a balcony. “Is this… Princess Celestia’s room?”

“Yes it is…” Nightfire says softly and looks around the room of his other sister. And the years haven’t been to kind to her room either. But at least those ponies down there haven’t gotten to either of their rooms.”

“That’s a good thing at least,” Little Love says with a smile then walks over to the book shelves and looks at them slowly. “Sir? One thing I would like to know, would any of us be able to wield any of the sixteen weapons?”

Nightfire smiles and then also walks up to the shelves. “No, they only respond to a natural born Alicorn’s magic or presence. But a theory is maybe if I’m close enough maybe one of you could.”

Little Love lifts a hoof to her chin and thinks as she examines each and every spine that was at her eye level and sees one that caught her attention. “Sir? Do you happen to know of the other weapons that are hidden?”

“You mean what kind of weapons they are?” He asks knowing that he had gotten her interested in the missing fifteen.

“Exactly,” She says as her magic flows into her horn and begins pulling out books from the shelves and flips through them slowly, finding that many of the pages were so worn that she couldn’t read because they were so faded.

“Well… I’d rather tell the others as well since I know they’ll be curious about this new weapon. Besides,” He pauses as he slides a few books from the shelves as well and begins reading through them along with Little Love.

She nods slowly and continues reading through each book that she lifts from the shelves, moving to the left as Nightfire moves to the right. “Then may I ask you something about your weapon?”

Nightfire looks away from the book that he was looking though, finding nothing of special note inside it he closes the cover and pushes it back into place. “You may. But remember, my weapon was hidden from me like fourteen of the others. So there may or may not be information about it I can answer.”

“Understood Sir,” Little Love says as she sets a book aside, having found some spells inside it. “Why was yours hidden from you while your sister’s were allowed to keep theirs?”

Nightfire stops mid page turn and looks to the balcony window. “Well… that goes back to the very day I was born,” He begins, closing the book he had before him and lays it on the shelf flat. “You know that I’m the eldest brother of my family. But did you know that despite the happy lives my family had together while my mother and father were alive that it has a bit of a curse upon it?”

“A curse? What kind of curse would it be?” She asks as her ears flick with increasing interest.

Nightfire sighs softly and closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again to keep his emotions in close check. “No matter how much good we do, the enemies we defeat, wars we avoid, eventually everything we’ve done in the past falls apart or another being who’s seeking power comes along and tries to overthrow the peace we’d brought to the nation. Also,” He pauses and bites his lip gently. “The Nightmare.”

“Nightmare?” Little Love asks then takes a small step backward. “You mean…”

“Exactly. All of the ancient Alicorns, my mother and father included had that power. If any of the others had children then they also had it passed down. I do know for sure my sisters and I possessed that power for ourselves. After all, Nightmare Moon was Luna’s Nightmare,” Nightfire says gently and looks over at the bed where he’d set down the scythe. “I think Luna never truly got over what happened then. I know it’d leave a scar at least.”

“I didn’t know,” She replies after a near minute of silence as she drops the book she’d had in her magic. “So… you’ve had that thing… since you were born?”

“Yes,” He replies in a somber and looks back toward her. “However, the day I was born, the Dragon Lord’s soothsayer examined me. Quickly she handed me back to my parents, shaking. She told them that I had a great power inside me, but if I didn’t find a way to control or suppress its power as I grew up then it could cause major devastation to the world. So…” Nightfire pauses briefly and then flattens his ears against his head. “I guess my mother and father were a little distrustful of my weapon being in my reach. Don’t get me wrong, I understood why they did what they did. But I feel that maybe they could’ve given me a chance to prove them wrong.”

“I’m sure you could’ve,” She replies as she picks up the book that she had dropped. “Only found a few books that had anything readable inside them. Some of this could be useful.”

“Any spells or anything?” Nightfire asks as he sets down the last book that hadn’t had any legible writing and turns toward her.

“A few, nothing that from what I looked over any Unicorn could use. Unfortunate, I was so interested in learning some new spells,” She replies with a bashful smile.

“Perhaps one day I’ll sit you down with others in our Guard who want to learn new spells and teach you what I can,” Nightfire replies and then looks back at the bed where they’d stacked the books that could be read. “If you and the others are willing.”

“Of course! You don’t have to ask me twice!” She exclaims excitedly as she smiles at him happily while he smiles back.

“I thought so,” He replies and chuckles a little as he gathers up the books and puts a few in his saddlebags along with a few in her own. “I’m gonna check the closet, maybe there will be another of the weapons. Wait here,” He says as he slowly walks up to the closet and pulls the door open, unable to feel Celestia’s magic pushing him back like Luna’s had in her room. Once open, he examined every nook inside it and shook his head as he didn’t succeed in finding any new weapon, however he did find some of Celestia’s old dresses, faded but still whole for the most part. “Would’ve thought that she would’ve had more practical items in here.”

“So… nothing else in there?” Little Love asks as she tries to look past him.

“Nope, nothing that could really be used. But maybe some of the sashes on these dresses could be used for a carrier for the little one when she’s born,” He says as he takes the loose strands of cloth from each of the dresses and stuffs them into his bags. “Unfortunately I’m not seeing much else of use. Maybe she came back and moved everything that meant a lot to Canterlot.”

“Well if there’s nothing else… shall we get going?” Little Love asks gently as she stuff the books into her bags.

“Let’s. There’s no need to stay here,” He says with a gentle tone, looking over his sister’s room once more, remembering the times he and his sister had spent reading together on the balcony. “Come close and let’s be off,” He says as he walks up to her and drapes a wing across her back while his horn glows gently. Suddenly a flash of light fills the room and the two vanish from the castle, leaving only minimal traces of their presence inside.

Back with the others, Nightfire lifts his wing from Little Love’s back and looks at the others, who ignored their arrival and seemed focused on the forest before them, many sets of glowing eyes looking at them all. “Don’t make sudden moves…” Nightfire says as he steps up slowly till he was standing between his guard and the eyes. “They’re either Timberwolves or star spawn… move slow and keep your weapons ready.”

“Like the Ursa?” White Wrap asks gently as she keeps Swift close to her while Nightfire steps slowly into the front of the group.

“Possibly,” Nightfire says as he pulls the scythe from the sheath and holds it in front of himself while glancing at each set of glowing eyes. “Move to the right, keep together,” Nightfire says as he stars slowly stepping to the right with the others while the faint light reflected off of the metal of the scythe while his magic glows around the center of the haft as he keeps himself between the glowing sets of eyes and his guard.

“I don’t like the look of those eyes,” Warlord comments as he levels his rifle slowly, his wings twitching while Little Love scoots close and places a hoof gently on his shoulder.

“Keep calm…”

Before somepony else could make a move, one of the sets of eyes jumped out from the forest, causing Nightfire to spin the scythe around and slams the end of the blade into the creature, hearing the sound of blade entering wood then the many pieces of wood were sent flying around them. “Run!” Nightfire says as he pulls the scythe free from the piece of wood that had been the Timberwolf’s chest.

Just as quickly as the first one had leaped out of the darkness of the forest, others quickly joined, jumping from the shadows which caused Nightfire to swing the bladed weapon as quickly as he could, the blade actually slicing through the tough wood of the next two wooden wolves, watching them fall apart as the magic inside of their bodies faded for a moment. While Nightfire focused on the ones from the front, Little Love used her magic to try and hold back any that got close to her or her brother, barely able to hold two back as a third tried to rush past her defenses, the snapping jaws missing her foreleg barely while Swift Fear ran up and slashed at the Timberwolf with her twin blades.

The wolf barely looked at her as her blades got caught in the leg of the wolf. White Wrap quickly ran up and presses the end of her 9 mm against the side of the wolfs head and pulls the trigger as quickly as she could, the head of the wolf turning to splinters while the other take aim with their guns, hesitating to pull the trigger due to the noise that would alert the slavers close to them to their presence.

Swift Fear nods to White in thanks as she quickly pulls the blades free of the wood that made up the leg of the Timberwolf and holds them in front of her in defense as Nightfire jumps in front of her and with a wide swing of the scythe slices through the touch wood of the wolves, sending pieces flying in all directions as he spreads his wings wide while keeping his attention in front of him. “Go. I’ll keep everypony safe.”

“Yes Sir,” Swift and White reply as they jump back into the group, the Unicorns using their magic to keep the wolves away.

Quickly Nightfire flies into the air above the group and above him starts spinning the scythe above him, the spinning weapon quickly becoming a blur. “Get back everypony!” Nightfire calls out and lands in front of Warlord as a wolf lunches at him and the scythe drops between them, slicing the wolf’s head into pieces as it then quickly beings sending it spinning around their group in quick circles, not giving the wolves a chance to get by. “Duck when I command. I’m ending them all in one fell swoop.”

“Yes Sir. Just don’t hit us with it,” Warlord comments as he looks at the wolf in front of him, the spinning blade of the scythe keeping them away, but not the horrible breath they had.

‘Focus, this spell should be easy for you. Just focus it through the blade of the scythe and it’ll take care of them all. Long enough for everypony to get away.’ Nightfire thinks as a second layer of overglow surrounds his horn and the blade of the scythe that was spinning at dangerous speeds. “Duck in three… two… one… now!” Nightfire shouts as the blade glows blue with magic before blackening and soon he sees them all duck to the ground. Soon he dives down and the magic around the blade extends out around them, slicing through the wolves and scattering the cut pieces around them into the forest.

“We’re good, but we have to hurry. It won’t take them long before they start assembling themselves again,” Nightfire replies as he looks around at the scattered remains of the wolves.

“Let’s go,” Warlord says as he pokes the broken head of the wolf with a hoof. “Everypony let’s get moving.”

“I know a place close to here that we can try. Could be a long shot but it could still be standing,” Nightfire says as he casts a glance over the remains of the wolves and takes the lead, leading them toward where a friend of the Ministry Mares was.

***About an hour later***

“Should be getting close now. She didn’t live much further than this from the old castle,” Nightfire says as he breaks off a branch from a tree that was in his way.

“Can I ask what it is we’re heading toward?” Night Star says as she looks around the forest, feeling unsafe inside of it.

“The home of a friend to the Crown. She gave us some information but she met an unfortunate end that I never learned about,” Nightfire replies and frowns a little with a neutral tone of voice. “From what I was told she was killed but I never learned anything about the cause.”

“So she tried helping us against her own kind? What changed her mind?” Peaceful Heart asks as she rubs her belly with the hoof that her PipBuck was on.

“Twilight and her friends helped her when she came to Ponyville looking for specific herbs for a brew. I can’t say I was close to her but I was happy to know one zebra was on our side,” Nightfire replies and then stops before the edge of a clearing that had a medium sized hut inside of it. “We’re here.”

“That’s her home? Doesn’t look like much to be honest,” Warlord comments and then winces as his sister smacks his side with a hoof.

“Watch it, I wanted to know about zebra but what we had in our Stable didn’t have anything other than the propaganda that was present during the war. This is a chance to learn about them,” She says then pushes up to Nightfire’s side. “So what do you remember about their culture?”

“Not as much as I would like. Countless years ago I spent a couple years with their kind but I never heard their legend which pushed things into overdrive,” He then sighs softly once again and looks down into Little Love’s eyes. “But I can tell you that they had a strong clan system. Thirteen if I can recall right. Never did learn what tribe that Zecora belonged to though.”

“Tribes? I never knew that,” Little Love says as she pulls out a blank page and quickly writes down the info she had gotten with a broken pencil that she pulled from her saddlebags.

Nightfire rolls his eyes and then steps out into the small clearing and sees the ruin that it had become of Zecora’s old home. “Not like I remember… but may things have changed since that day haven’t they?” Nightfire asks himself aloud as he takes a deep breath in then lets it out slowly. “Come on, let’s get inside and rest for the rest of the day. Night should be falling within the next hour or two anyway.”

“Seems about right, but then again some of us fought Timberwolves till we were exhausted,” Straight Shot says sticking close to Candle. “That place should hold us all?”

“Yeah, the only thing I see wrong with it is that its way to exposed if anypony tries to attack us. But also they could hide in the tree line and snipe at us through the windows,” Close Combat says with a wary smirk.

“Again, very true but I think it’s better than nothing. The forest is dangerous at night and I’d rather not risk another attack from those wolves or an Ursa,” White Wrap replies and nods. “Best case is we have one of us on watch every half an hour or so. Besides, I’d like to check everypony for wounds,” She says with a smile. “Part of my job after all.”

Nightfire nods and pulls the scythe free of its sheath and walks toward the hut, cautious and ready to defend himself if he needed. “I’ll go in first, then everypony follow in close. If I recall right her hut was one large single room,” He says confidently.

“Yes Sir,” Warlord says as he readies his own pistol as Nightfire nears the door of the hut, seeing some strange rotted pieces of wood resting by it.

Nightfire pushes open the door and slides inside silently as he looks around the hut, nature slowly starting to take it back. Roots growing up through the floor, the dead remains of trees laying all over the floor and lots of broken twigs everywhere. A large black cauldron in the middle of the room that had lots of hoof marks on it and had been used fairly recently. “So somepony has been here before… but how long ago was it?”

As he walks around more, he finds that a spot were somepony had dug through the ground to a fairly large root and had taken chunks from it. Beside it was a broken bowl that had meshed herbs, from the smell of the mix it had bits of the root that was torn up among some other herbs that he couldn’t identify. “Looks clear… though keeping a guard on watch wouldn’t be a bad call.”

“Sir? Is it clear?” Abundant asks from the edge of the forest snapping Nightfire out of his thoughts.

“Yeah… come in and stay together,” He says and walks toward the door and waves them in with a wing. “It’s clear and there’s nopony here.”

“Thank goodness,” Little Love replies with a smile as they all walk toward the hut with sighs of relief.

“I wouldn’t be too happy,” He says with a small frown. “I want at least one guard posted by the window every half hour. I found signs of somepony being here within a week or so. Stay low when on guard and don’t take chances,” Nightfire says and sheathes the scythe.

“What makes you think that Sir?” Candle Light says as she winces a little and rubs her stomach more. “I mean if it looks like they left this place at least a week ago why come back?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t but I’d rather be safer than sorry,” He says then feels the fur on the back of his neck stand up a little. “There’s a spirit here with us.”

“S-Spirit?” Abundant Source replies softly and folds her ears back against her head.

“Yeah…” Nightfire says and then looks around as a faint outline began to take shape in front of him before everypony present causing most of them to back away from it while Nightfire only steps back once. “Who… who are you?”

The spirit slowly takes more and more of a form before all of their eyes and before long the spirit stands before them nearly as if it was another one of them and nods to Nightfire with a smile.

Nightfire’s eyes widen at the sight of the spirit, unable to believe who it was standing before them all. “Wh-Who is that?” White Wrap asks as she looks at the spirit, unable to believe what they were seeing.

“It’s… not possible. Zecora? Is that re-really you?” Nightfire asks as he looks into the eyes of the spirit. The zebra only seeming to reply with silence.

The spirit of the passed zebra mare nods and smiles at him.

“I thought that you died in Canterlot… how is it that you’re here?” Nightfire asks as the others in his guard asks random questions that he and Zecora ignored.

The spirit of the mare shrugs her shoulders seemingly unable to physically speak.

Nightfire steps up to stand directly in front of her and raises a hoof to rest mere centimeters away from her ghostly cheek. “I’m sorry that you died… or was killed,” He says as a tear shines in his eye. “I’ll make sure that you’re not forgotten. After all, all those long years ago when I visited your lands I became an honorary zebra,” He says as he motions to the white markings on his neck and legs with his left wing. “Never was given a tribe though… unlike you. Rest well my friend…” He says then begins speaking in a language none of the guard had heard as he sets his hoof down on the floor again.

The spirit of Zecora smiles at Nightfire and then taps the ground with a hoof gently and slowly seems to vanish from sight leaving them all awestruck.

“You can… speak their language?” Warlord asks as he steps closer to Nightfire, having been the first to get his thoughts in place after seeing such a supernatural thing.

“When I was younger I visited their lands to make peace,” Nightfire begins with a small smile. “After spending some time with them I was given the chance to truly learn about their culture, the Caesar of that age, the twelve and one had medicine zebra marked me as one of their own; a zebra in spirit and markings but not in flesh,” Nightfire says with a smile and runs a hoof over the markings on his neck.

From the nearby window Abundant Source looks out and hears the sound of a gun cocking which makes her ear twitch. “Everypony down!” She quickly cries and runs toward Nightfire and tackles him down to the ground.

As Nightfire finds his gaze looking up at the ceiling of the hut with a loud grunt from the impact to the ground and the others duck down bullets punch into the wood and stone of Zecora’s hut as they all shield themselves from the small chunks of wood, stone and steel that flew in at them. After a few short moments Nightfire quickly draws his two pistols and rolls over onto his stomach. “Thanks for the save…”

“Don’t worry about it!” She cries out over the gunfire as she looks over at Candle Light who was still seemed uninjured.

“Leave this to me now,” He says and then once the fire ended quickly jumps up and activates S.A.T.S, at first only finding his own guards as targets then as he looked around more another target became available, however his odds of a successful shot were only in the high fifty percent at best. ‘Now or never, aim true…’ He thinks before selecting his target; the flank of whoever was outside the window and allows the spell to activate in full, the two shots he had flying past the being outside and into the trees behind it. As the spell ends Nightfire aims down the barrel of the .44 and then to the door which had been left open. Cursing silently he calls out to who had fired at them.

“Listen! We don’t want any trouble here! If you’ve claimed this place then we’ll leave. But we need a place to rest for one of our own! She’s pregnant and can’t keep up the pace we’ve set for much longer,” Nightfire calls out, leveling his two pistols toward the door.

While everypony inside the hut hold their breathes, weapons drawn while Straight Shot stood protectively in front of Candle two silhouettes appear at the edges of the door and one steps through followed by the other. The two speak in the language Nightfire had spoken just moments before the two showed up making Nightfire narrow his eyes at them. ‘They’re zebra? Then are they from the Zebra lands or were they here already?’ He says as he notices their stripes and the weapons they had, the one on the right had a rifle that had stripes on it like the wielder’s body. He also had some light armor around his shoulders, chest and guards on his legs that seemed made of some kind of thick cloth. While the one on the left was even more lightly armored, mainly armored around the legs, chest and had a holster on her left side within reach of her head. ‘So a stallion and mare… but could they be related or are they both from separate tribes? I mean I’ve seen it many long years ago but it’s not unheard of…’

Before he could form another thought the stallion lowers the barrel of his rifle and speaks again in the same language in an angry tone. His face stern while the mares was gentler, seemingly more guarded than anything else.

Nightfire lowers the .357 and .44 and replies back in a respectful tone, then holsters the two pistols. “They wanted to know-“

“We can speak in this language… though we’d prefer to keep this in our natural one,” The mare replies, wanting to keep the first conversation with Nightfire private.

Nightfire nods and then switches back to their language and continues talking with the two of them. As they talked, Nightfire kept a respectful tone to his voice despite the initial hostility from the stallion. The stallion would occasionally motion toward the scythe that was strapped on Nightfire’s back and stomps his hoof down hard, kicking up a puff of dust and dirt. Nightfire lifts a hoof and replies with a shake of his head and a hoof full of words and settles his hoof down gently. After a back and forward conversation Nightfire sighs and then looks back at his guard. “Weapons down.”

“But Si-“ Close Combat begins before the male zebra stomps his hoof hard.

“Weapons down, as your charge commands!”

“Y-Yes Sir…” Close Combat replies begrudgingly holsters his pistol along with everypony else in the guard.

“Alright… now tell me, what are your names?” Nightfire asks as he looks between the two zebra before them.

“My name’s Revark, I’m the eldest of the two of us,” The stallion says as he lifts a hoof and presses it against his chest.

“My name is Zegato, I’m his little sister and we are protecting the home of our ancestor,” She says in a firm but not angry tone which her brother had earlier.

“Ancestor?” Nightfire asks as he quickly turns his attention to her with surprise. “You mean that you both are…”

“Yes,” Zegato replies with a smile on her muzzle. “Zecora is our ancestor and none of you belong in her hut,” She says giving emphasis with a stomp to the ground.

Nightfire looks between the two of them and then shakes his head. “So if she had been pregnant then I assume she was able to keep it secret from everypony she worked closely with here in Equestria right?”

“You’d be right. She was a very skilled potions maker after all,” Zegato says with a hint of pride in her own voice.

“Remember, pride is something that you should keep in check. It can only lead to you becoming overconfident,” Nightfire says and then looks over at her brother. “So let me ask you, are you both of the Twelve or the One?”

“What do you mean?” Little Love asks as she steps closer to Nightfire wondering what his last words meant.

“There were thirteen zebra tribes,” Revark begins, answering her question. “But the One, Starkatteri is a tribe who believe they were sired by the moon.”

“Star… Starkatteri?” Swift Fear asks as she looks at the male zebra.

“I remember them well. They always asked me many questions about Luna’s and my own powers involving the stars and moon, though we didn’t move the stars. They appeared as the moon took her place in the sky,” Nightfire explains and looks back at them. “They did have some strange beliefs, but one ponies crazy is another’s sane.”

“While I don’t truly understand their beliefs,” Zegato begins as she rubs her neck with her right hoof. “Their beliefs were their own and we have no reason to say they were wrong.”

“Now if I recall right… Zecora was of the Mendi tribe right?” Nightfire says as he thinks back on the tribes that he had encounters with many long years ago.

“Correct, which means we’re also Mendi,” Revark says and slings his rifle across his back. “I think I could’ve been wrong about you… perhaps there was something about our meeting that was destined.”

“Destiny? Don’t tell me that you really believe in that kind of thing,” Night Star says with a scoff which earns many looks for the other guards. “Do you think that destiny has anything to do with the way the world is anymore? If destiny is a thing then was it destined that my Soven Diamond would be killed? I refuse to believe in something s-“ Night Star begins, her voice getting louder and louder before getting smacked across his cheek by White Wrap.

“The hell is wrong with you?” She asks as she stares at him, having never seen him act in such a way before. “Soven Diamond wouldn’t… he wouldn’t want you to be like this,” She scolds her with a firm tone of voice.

“I’m sorry,” Zegato says with soft tone of voice. “We did not mean to bring any painful memories back to the surface. That was not our intent.”

“No it’s alright,” Nightfire says and looks over at White Wrap and Night Star who looked back at the zebra siblings. “They’ve all been through a lot. More than you could really imagine.”

“I think we know what you mean,” Zegato replies softly.

“We didn’t mean to bring up the past. Now if I may ask, for Candle Light’s sake more than all of our own, may we sleep here for a while?” Nightfire asks motioning toward Candle who was still being shielded by Straight Shot.

“Of course,” Revark replies with a nod. “If her foal can one day make a difference in this place, it may be against our own rules we set up but you all may.”

“Thank you,” Candle Light says as she rests a hoof against her husband’s shoulder as she walks up to their new zebra friends. “You don’t know what this means to me and my baby,” She says and rubs her belly with a hoof as she offers them a smile.

“Please don’t think much of it,” Zegato replies with a gentle tone. “If your child will make a difference in this cruel world then who are we to turn away such a mother.”

Nightfire steps up and nods to them both. “Believe me, you’ve no idea what this means for all of us. We’ve all been making sure Straight’s and Candle’s foal is safe and healthy.”

“It’s the least we can do for their foal. Please,” Revark says and nods to everypony. “Relax and get some rest. Take all the time that you all need.”

Little Love, among others quickly start unpacking their sleeping gear and lie down with loud sighs of thanks.

Revark and Zegato nods and walk toward the door and then look out into the forest. “Let me ask you two,” Nightfire says as he walks up to stand behind them. “Are you really letting us stay here because of their foal? Or is there something else to it?”

Zegato looks back at him with a smile. “You can say we want the best for their foal, but we also know that you made a reputation for yourself with our tribe.”

“Oh?” Nightfire asks as he looks between them.

“Let’s just say that your reputation has made us want to see where you will go while we are alive,” Revark says softly. “If you’ll let us.”

“You want to travel with us?” Nightfire asks as he spreads his wings to keep the conversation private.

“Not all of you. Just you,” Zegato replies and turns to face him and looks into his eyes, a determined gleam in them.

“Well… of you plan on traveling with me, then you must know that I value everyponies input, so yours will also be taken into consideration. Got it?” Nightfire replies and then shifts his focus between them.

“Understood,” Revark replies with a nod. “We should all get some rest. I am willing to bet there is a long way to go before you get where you want to go.”

“That’s right,” Nightfire says and folds his wings. “Get some sleep you two, there’s many obstacles along this path.”

“No objections,” The eldest replies and walks toward a door in the back of the hut and earns looks from everypony.

“I believe that we can trust them… after all,” Nightfire says as he addresses his guard. “They are the genuine descendants of Zecora.”

“Are you sure?” White Wrap asks.

“I spent time with the Twelve and One for nearly fourteen years. Spent a little over a year with each tribe and I know how each one would try to hide the truth. Revark and Zegato told me only the truth, and if what we saw with her spirit I believe she was telling us that they are to be trusted.”

Warlord and the others look at each other and nod a little. “But if they turn on us…” Night Star begins and is silenced by White Wrap glare at her.

“If they ever do… I’ll deal with it. But I am willing to put a little faith in them. The Mendi tribe was always a tribe that had to be smart so what would they gain from lying to us?”

“I guess you’re right…” She replies and then lies down and closes her eyes to sleep.

“Everypony just get some rest. We’ve still got a ways to go,” Nightfire says as he walks over by the door and shuts it with a gentle thump and click as the ancient lock falls into place.

Fallout Equestria: Blackfire

by Prince Nightfire Grace

Prolouge

Awakening

The Wasteland

Capture

Dark Reawakening

Crossroads

Obtaining A Key to the Past