> Of The Night
>  by TheBrianJ
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starlight Glimmer’s old home was a flurry of activity. She had only been run out a few days ago, but all the ponies who stayed behind were already hard at work turning the former cult commune into a viable town. The first task at hoof: convert Starlight Glimmer’s house into a legitimate town hall.

“Grrrr, come on!” Double Diamond said with a grunt. He wrapped both hooves around the edge of a wall and pulled with all his might, but to no avail. On the other side of the wall, Party Favor slammed his weight against the wood with little give.

“Are you—nrgghhh—are you sure there are no hammers available or anything?” Double Diamond said.

“Nope, they’re all being used,” Party Favor replied. “I could make you one if you really need it.”

“I don’t know how much a balloon is gonna help us here. Now, on three. One, two…”

Double Diamond pulled and Party Favor pushed, but the wall refused to budge in the least. Double Diamond stepped away, wiping sweat from his brow.

“This isn’t working,” he muttered.

“No, it’s not,” Party Favor agreed. “We need more muscle . Let me see if somepony is available, Beat Box or Sweet Lilac or someone.”

“What about Night Glider?” Double Diamond quickly responded.

“Oh yeah, she’d be great! I think she’s on the other side of town. Lemme see if I can get her.” Party Favor walked across the room and stuck his head out the window. “Hey, Night Glider!” he yelled.

Night Glider’s ears twitched. She looked up from the window she had been repairing all morning and scanned her surroundings, just barely seeing Party Favor in the distance, on the other side of town. A grin grew across her face and with a quick flick of her wings she was in the air, racing towards the source. As she approached town hall, she could see Party Favor waving to her. He ducked out of the way as she flew through the window and landed in front of him.

“You rang?” She looked around to see Double Diamond behind her. “Oh, hey Double-D! What are you guys working on?”

Double Diamond awkwardly cleared his throat. “Uh, we’re trying to tear this wall down, but it’s not going well. You wanna help us?”

Night Glider surveyed the wall, giving it a few shoves. “You want this whole thing gone?” She looked around the room, and her eyes settled on a window directly facing the wall. A glint sparkled in her eye, and she smiled. “Yeah, I got this.” 

"Should we, like, back up?" Double Diamond asked.

"Oh yeah," she replied. "Definitely."

Night Glider turned around and soared out the window. She flew further and further away, finally turning back and hovering some distance away. Her grin grew and she took off towards the window, her forehooves stretched out in front of her. Double Diamond and Party Favor backed up as far as they could as, with one last burst of speed, Night Glider came tearing into the room, driving the full force of her body into the wall.

With a loud crack, it splintered down the middle, sending wooden shards flying into the corners of the room. Double Diamond and Party Favor hid to one side as the wall came crashing down in pieces. Night Glider landed on top of the wreckage and debris, admiring her work for a second before she turned towards her friends.

“Was that what you were looking for?” she asked.

Party Favor smiled back. “Um, yeah. Something like that.” He carefully stepped over the debris. “Gonna take a while to clean up…”

Night Glider looked around at the splinters. “Oh. Right. Sorry about that.”

“No worries, that was awesome!” Double Diamond quickly interjected, jumping up to Night Glider and putting his foreleg around her shoulder. “That was, like, exactly what we were looking for!”

Night Glider and Party Favor glanced at each other; Party Favor smirked and rolled his eyes, causing Night Glider to blush a bit. “Heh, thanks Double-D.”

“Oh my gosh, what happened in here?” came a voice from behind them. Sugar Belle had come up the stairs, carrying a large basket on her head, packed to the brim with food and bottles of cider.

“Night Glider. Night Glider happened,” Party Favor replied. Night Glider chuckled.

“Well, I brought lunch for us to have here, but it’s all a mess now!” Sugar Belle picked up a few of the wooden shards that littered the floor, then tossed them into the corner. “And the rest of town hall is pretty busy. Do we have a blanket we can put down?”

“Yeah, I think there was one down in the basement,” Double Diamond said.

“I’ll get it!”  Night Glider said, flapping her wings and flying towards the stairs. “I’ll be back before you know it!”

Night Glider took off down the stairs and weaved in and out of the work that was being done all around the house, eventually landing in front of a single door set off to the side. Pushing the door open revealed nothing but blackness, and without any lanterns to speak of, the entire basement was left to be covered in a dark shroud. Night Glider trotted down the stairs, humming to herself as she reached the bottom and started looking around for the blanket.

She made her way to the other side of the room and started rummaging through a pile of random junk in the corner. She tossed a few empty cardboard boxes out of the way, trying to see if her prize lay at the bottom of everything.

“Nah, just a bunch of junk…” she muttered to herself.

She picked the last box up off the floor, but stopped, and a shiver ran down her spine. Memories began to rush back to her, dancing about in her mind and refusing to be ignored. Her breathing was quickening, she could hear her heart pounding in her chest, but she wasn't sure why. She looked around the room, scanning the darkness for what had suddenly set her off. Then it hit her: the cardboard boxes.

She quickly turned back to the one she was holding and looked it over. There was a single name written on it: Honey Bun. She tossed the box aside and turned around, her eyes falling on a shelf across the room that was mostly barren, save for a single small box. As soon as she zeroed in on it, everything else was gone.

With hooves lightly shaking, Night Glider walked across the room to the box. She picked it up, barely able to make out her own name written on it. She blew dust off of it, then carefully opened it up, her heart fluttering for a moment when she saw the single item inside: a silver locket on a chain.

She reached in and pulled the locket out, then leaned back against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting. It had been over a year since she had last seen it, as Starlight Glimmer had taken it away as soon as she arrived in town. She popped it open and looked at the two images inside. There were two ponies staring back at her, smiles on their faces.

Modus. It had been a long time since she had really thought about it, although that was mostly because of Starlight Glimmer’s influence. Now, sitting in the dark in total silence, she was completely alone with her thoughts, her memories of everything that happened. All she could think about was what had happened that day.

“Night Glider, you have been a danger to this village for far too long.”

“But…”

“By the rights vested in me as the mayor, I hereby announce the exile of Night Glider from Modus. Get out!”

“Night Glider? You down there?”

Night Glider gasped, suddenly drawn back to the real world. “Y-yeah!”

“Are you okay?” the voice said from the top of the stairs. “You’ve been down there for like five minutes, everything alright?”

Five minutes? Night Glider thought to herself. “I’m fine! I’ll be right up.”

She quickly slipped the locket around her neck and looked around the room for the blanket, finding it bundled in the back of the room. She tossed it on her back and rushed back up the stairs and through the building to where her friends were waiting.

“There you are!” Sugar Belle said. “Did you get lost?”

“Sorry,” Night Glider said as she unfolded the blanket and put it down. “I got kinda distracted." 

"Well now that you're back, we can start eating!" Sugar Belle said as she began to unpack freshly baked muffins and biscuits and  passing them out to her eager friends. When she got to Night Glider, she paused.

“Ooooh, that’s pretty!” she said.

“What?”

“That necklace. You never really struck me as the jewelry type.”

Double Diamond looked up from his biscuit, and his eyes widened. “Hey, I recognize that! That’s the locket Starlight and I found you with!”

Night Glider nodded. “Oh yeah, you were with her when she found me. Well, your mind wasn’t all there, but you were.”

“What’s in it?” Party Favor asked.

“It’s… it’s my parents.”

“Can I see?” Sugar Belle asked. Night Glider popped open the locket, and Sugar Belle carefully examined the pictures inside. “Your parents?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s so sweet that they gave this to you!”

“Eh… kinda,” Night Glider said. “It’s a Modus tradition more than anything. I’m sure that if they had the choice, they wouldn’t have given this to me.”

“What?” There was an awkward pause, before Sugar Belle’s ears fell. “Oh… yeah.”

“Wait,” Party Favor said. “Night Glider, was all that stuff that Starlight Glimmer said about you true?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Night Glider replied. “She actually was honest about it, for the most part. She promised me a place where I wouldn’t be different anymore, and I guess she delivered.”

“So, you were really exiled from Modus?”

Night Glider nodded, looking down at her locket. “Yeah. In fact, the mayor even said that, word for word. He called this big meeting with everypony in town to say that I was a ‘danger to the village.’ My parents didn’t lift a hoof to stop him. Some things happened… and I was exiled and told to get out immediately. A few weeks later, Starlight Glimmer found me, and that was that.”

She snapped the locket shut and stared at the ground. The other three looked nervously at each other. Party Favor opened his mouth to say something, but Double Diamond held his hoof up to quiet him.

“Hey, Night Glider… we don’t need to talk about the past," Double Diamond said.. It’s in, uh, the past, you know? We can let all that stuff slide. No more past; let’s plan for the future!”

Night Glider looked over at Double Diamond. There was something about his goofy grin that just felt so sincere to her. That no matter how oddly worded it was, he really meant it. She smiled back.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she said, turning towards the whole group. “Sorry. You guys don’t need to hear about all that.”

“Nah, it’s fine!” Double Diamond quickly replied. “Right, guys?” 

Both Party Favor and Sugar Belle nodded.

“Thanks,” Night Glider said. 

Double Diamond passed her a bottle of cider. “Hey, a toast! To friendship!”

Party Favor and Sugar Belle nodded and raised their bottles, and all three looked to Night Glider. 

She grinned, then raised her cider as well. “To friendship.”

They all touched bottles and drank. Night Glider savored the moment, taking a sip of her cider and enjoying the company of her friends. But as the minutes ticked by, the feeling of comfort drained away, and her mind had gone right back to where it was before. She looked down at the locket hanging from her neck, as three words swirled around in her head.

“No more past…”

~~~~~~~~~~

Night Glider lay on her bed, her head hanging upside-down over the edge. In her hoof she held the locket, and she idly flicked it open and closed while glancing out the window. She’d had Modus on her mind the entire day since her discovery, and it showed no sign of leaving. What had happened during her last days in Modus was playing on loop.

She sighed and rolled over, flipping the locket open again and gazing at the pictures inside. She hadn’t talked to—much less seen—her parents or anypony from Modus, since she was exiled. She hadn’t even had the chance to; everything had happened so quickly.

The locket snapped shut again. Night Glider sighed. She hadn’t wanted to face any of this. Starlight Glimmer had promised her a new life, one where she wouldn’t be different, wouldn’t be hated, wouldn’t be so ostracized like she was in Modus. Starlight’s promise hadn’t been the solution she wanted. Now everything was right back at the forefront of her mind.

Night Glider looked out the window at the starry sky and into the vast desert that their town sat in. She knew that Modus was out there, just a few short days of travel away at most. But no matter how close to Modus she actually was, it still felt a million miles away. She had never considered it anything less than an impossible journey to go back, but now it had come to her, towered over her with a disquieting sense of invitation back home, yet still with an air of uncertainty and a sinking feeling of impossibility that left her wide awake so early in the morning.

She sighed.

“You can come in if you want,” she said aloud. “I can hear you out there.”

There was a long pause. Slowly the door to her room opened, and a pony stuck his head in. “Oh…”

“What were you doing out there, Double-D?”

Double Diamond scuffed his hoof on the ground. “Um… I was deciding whether or not to check in on you.”

Night Glider smiled. “You’re such a dork. Thanks, but I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Double Diamond said, trotting into the room. “You seemed kinda, like, off earlier. After you found that necklace. The one you’re holding.”

She looked back down at the locket in her hoof. “This? No, it’s not important. It’s nothing, I’m fine, I…”

She trailed off and just stared at the locket. Double Diamond cautiously sat down on the bed next to her, waiting for her to say something. She slowly lowered the locket to her side.

“I miss Modus.”

“What? You do?”

“Maybe ‘miss’ isn’t the right word,” Night Glider continued. “Maybe it’s that I have unfinished business. Maybe it’s that I haven’t seen my parents in forever. I don’t know. But ever since I got this locket back, it’s all I can think about.”

“Well, you’ve been gone from there a year, and most of that time you were under Starlight’s control,” Double Diamond said. “It’s gonna take all of us some time to readjust.”

“Readjust? I’m not talking about readjusting to life. I’m talking about what my life was like before all of this. What led me here.”

“That stuff that Starlight Glimmer talked about? You said there was just an incident—”

The word made Night Glider wince, and she leapt to her hooves. 

“That ‘incident’ was my fault!” she said, her ears flattening back as her head fell a bit. 

"It was?" Double Diamond said. "Starlight Glimmer told us that you were just blamed for it."

"I was blamed for it because... because it was my fault," Night Glider said. “I did something, and a dozen ponies got hurt. Really hurt. One of them can't even fly any more.”

"But it was just a mistake, right?"

"That doesn't matter if it was a mistake or not," Night Glider said quietly. "The only thing that matters is that it happened."

Double Diamond cleared his throat, then put on a nervous smile. “But that’s in the past. You have a new life now, right?  Modus is behind you!"

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Night Glider shook her head. “No… it’s not.”

“What?”

“Look, Double-D,” she said quietly. “There’s a lot more to everything that happened. If it was just that incident, it would have been awful, but everyone could have moved on. But it's like nopony was even surprised it happened. They had just been waiting for me to finally screw up bad enough, and I gave them the perfect opportunity. That's why I was exiled. After all my talk that I wasn't different from them, that I was just like every other pony, I went and proved them all right; I am different."

Double Diamond jumped to his hooves and walked over to her. “Stop saying that! You’re the most normal, cool pony I’ve ever met!”

She looked him directly in the eyes. “No, I'm not. You know what I mean, Double-D."

“Y-yeah, I get that," he stammered, "but nobody here thinks that's a big deal, we all think you're awesome! Who cares, you know?”

“They cared!” Night Glider yelled. She took a deep breath to compose herself; her throat was starting to burn. “Modus cared. I spent my whole life with ponies staring at me out of the corner of their eye, nopony trusting me, no one willing to get close to me. Like I was some anomaly that they didn't even know how to react to, other than ostracizing me. The only time anypony paid attention to me is when I did something wrong.”

Night Glider went quiet, and with Double Diamond unsure of what to say, there was only silence. Night Glider slowly walked back over to the bed and sat down next to Double Diamond, then picked her locket back up.

“All I ever did in Modus was try to fit in, and it never worked. And before I knew what was happening, everything just changed so quickly. I was kicked out, brainwashed, and moved far away from Modus… I never got the chance to prove myself to everypony in Modus. To show that I belonged there.”

Again, silence. Double Diamond opened his mouth to say something, but as he did, Night Glider popped the locket open once again to see her parents, and he quickly closed his mouth. Night Glider stared at the pictures inside. Finally, something clicked in her head: something that had been in her mind for some time but hadn’t yet come to the forefront. She closed the locket.

“I’m going back to Modus,” she said.

“What?”

“I’m going back,” she continued, her words becoming stilted and direct. “I have to. It’s where I was born. It’s where I grew up. I’m not just going to let the story end the way it ended. There has to be more. There just has to.”

“But, like, we need you right now!” Double Diamond replied. “We’re rebuilding the town!”

“I’m sorry… I love it here. I really do, and I love everypony here,” Night Glider said, causing Double Diamond to blush a bit. “But I have unfinished business in Modus, and it’s going to eat away at me until I’m there again.”

“But you’re gonna come back, right?”

Night Glider’s throat seized up for a moment, and she turned away from Double Diamond. “I’m not sure. But if Modus is willing to take me back…”

“Whoa, wait!” Double Diamond leapt to his hooves and stood directly in front of Night Glider. “You’d just leave us forever for a place that exiled you?”

The anger in Double Diamond’s voice made Night Glider turn right back to stare him right in the eyes again. “It’s my home! It’s where I belong! If there’s any chance that I could mend fences there—”

“What about what you said when we ran Starlight out of town? You said that you weren’t going anywhere!”

“I hadn’t even been back in my own mind for an hour!” Night Glider said, standing up. “Modus hadn’t even been on my mind, but once things had calmed down, I started to have second thoughts!”

“You just said yourself that ponies judged you there all the time. Why in Equestria would you want to go back?”

“Because I don’t have a home anymore, Double Diamond!” Night Glider yelled. “If you wanted to, you could go home. If anypony here wanted to, they could go home. But I can’t! I’m going to go back and I’m going to convince them to let me back in, because all ponies deserve to have a home to go back to. And I don’t have that, so I’m gonna do something about it! It’s been a year, I bet I can convince them to give me another chance. And with everything I've learned, and how I've changed, I'm sure I can make things right.”

“What are you going to do when you get back there, anyway? You were exiled!”

“I’ll figure something out!”

“Haven’t you figured out that they don’t want you there?!”

A chill shot up Night Glider’s spine, and she turned away. Double Diamond gasped. He slowly walked up next to Night Glider, resting a hoof on her shoulder.

“Listen, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,” Double Diamond said. 

“No, no, it’s fine,” Night Glider mumbled. “Look, I know it sounds weird, but while there were some bad times in Modus… like I said, it’s my home. When Starlight Glimmer found me, she promised me an escape from my problems, and it just turned out worse. The past few weeks have been wonderful, but it’s ignoring the real problem. I like it here, but I belong at home.”

Night Glider looked down towards the ground. Double Diamond didn’t say anything for a minute, contemplating everything Night Glider had said. Finally, he gently patted her on the shoulder again.

“I… I don’t want to see you go,” Double Diamond said. “But if this is something you want to do, if you’re gonna be miserable unless you do it… then I guess you gotta go for it.”

Night Glider looked up. “Really?”

“Y-yeah! I mean, I’ll miss you. I think we all would. But if this is what you think you have to do, then I guess we’ll just make do without you. I’m just, like, worried about what will happen when you get back there..."

Night Glider smiled. “I know that you’re looking out for me, Double-D, but I’ll be fine. I’ve loved it here. I really have, but this is something I have to do."

“Sounds like nothing I say is gonna change your mind, huh?” Double Diamond asked. Night Glider shook her head, and Double Diamond sighed. "I'm just worried they aren't even going to let you back in."

“Even if they don’t, I’m sure I can get my parents to talk to me. I’m sure that if I can just tell them my side of everything, they’ll be able to talk to the mayor, and from there… well, we’ll see.”

There was a long silence. Night Glider turned to look out the window at the moon in the distance, with Double Diamond standing next to her.

“So… this is goodbye, then?” Double Diamond asked.

“I’ll leave in the morning,” Night Glider said. 

“You want me to tell everypony?”

Night Glider shook her head. “No, I think it’ll be better if I don't. Don’t want to upset anyone by telling them I’m just heading out, you know?”

There was another long pause, neither pony sure of what to say next. Double Diamond reached out, his hoof hovering a few inches from her shoulder, but he slowly backed it away and took a step backwards.

“It’s late, I should probably let you get ready and everything,” he said, trotting to the door. “I’ll, uh, check on you before you leave?”

Night Glider smiled. “I’d like that, thanks.”

Double Diamond nodded and closed the door. From behind it, Night Glider could hear an almost inaudible sigh as he walked away. She looked out the window into the distance, the desert seeming to extend endlessly as she gazed at the star-filled sky. She reached over and took the locket in her hoof once again and opened it up, looking at the photos of her parents. 

“Looks like I’ll see you guys soon,” she quietly said, before returning her gaze to the starry sky. “I hope…”

~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was peeking over the horizon as Night Glider finished packing up her small saddle bag. She decided that she didn’t need much for her trip, just enough bits to stop for food and a place to sleep if necessary, and a scarf if it got cold. She slung the saddle bag over her back, then looked out the window. With the sun just rising now, she’d be able to make it to Modus in a few days. She wasn’t entirely sure of where she would stop; she wasn’t thinking about the journey. All that was on her mind was the destination.

She grabbed the locket off of her night stand and clasped it around her neck. She held it in one hoof and bounced it a few times, letting the small silver beads that were attached to it jingle lightly. The sound was soothing and familiar, but didn’t do much to ease the butterflies that were fluttering about in her stomach.

She took one last look around her room. There wasn’t a whole lot to see, just a bed, a side table, and a window to outside, facing the desert. There was nothing for her to miss. With all the resources going to rebuilding the town, ponies had decided early on that they could live with bare rooms for a bit longer if it meant reintegrating with Equestria

As she trotted through the house, Night Glider could swear that she heard voices, but there was no activity in the house. She paused at Double Diamond’s door, putting her ear to it, but that only seemed to muffle the voice. Must be some ponies on the other side of town… she thought, trotting towards the front door. She put her hoof on it and looked back at the door to Double Diamond’s room, half expecting it to suddenly burst open and Double Diamond to come galloping out, but after waiting a few seconds, she realized it wasn’t going to happen.

Night Glider sighed and pushed the front door open, and suddenly found herself in the middle of a flurry of activity, with most of the town already out and about. As soon as she stepped out, she was surrounded by ponies.

“Night Glider, we’re gonna miss you!”

“How far away is Modus? I’ve never been there!”

“You’ll come visit, right? You gotta come visit when town hall is completed!”

Night Glider nearly fell back into the door. “Uh… hey, everyone! What’s going on?”

From out of the crowd, Double Diamond stepped forward, rubbing the back of his head. “Um, okay. So I know you told me not to tell anypony, but I figured I should tell Sugar Belle. And then she told Party Favor. And then he told, like, everyone in town. Sorry.”

Party Favor stepped forward. “Night Glider…”

“I know, I know,” Night Glider said, preparing to defend herself. “Look, I—”

“If you were gonna leave, we had to say goodbye to you!”

Night Glider looked up at Party Favor. “What? You aren’t angry at me for leaving?”

“Angry? Of course not!” Party Favor scuffed the ground. “I mean, we’re sure as heck gonna miss you, but if you think you belong back in Modus, we’re not gonna stop you.”

“Oh,” Night Glider said. “Sorry for not telling you, then. I figured you guys would be pretty upset…”

“It’s your decision, and as your friends, we’ll always support it!” Sugar Belle said, stepping forward and handing a bag over to Night Glider.  “Just remember to stop by every once in a while to see how the town is coming along!”

Night Glider glanced in the bag. “Sugar Belle, no pony could possibly need this many scones in their life.”

“They’re for the trip! And, ya know, the rest of the ponies in Modus.”

Night Glider looked around at all the ponies gathered; surrounded by sincere smiles, the butterflies in her stomach dissipated a bit.

“Listen, everypony,” she said, “it really does mean the world to me that you all wanted to say goodbye. I know that we never really got to know each other until the last few weeks or so, but they have been so much fun. Thank you all.” She smiled. “I promise I’ll visit, and I’ll do it as soon as I can.”

Party Favor and Sugar Belle jumped forward and grabbed her in a big hug, which she gladly reciprocated. When they had finally broken off, Night Glider began saying goodbye to everypony as she walked towards the edge of town. Party Favor and Sugar Belle stood in front of everypony, waving goodbye to her.

Night Glider slowly trotted out of town. She knew that she could take off and start flying, but as she looked towards the horizon and unfurled her wings, she stopped.

“You’re terrible at trying to be inconspicuous, you know,” she said. 

She turned around, where Double Diamond stood a few feet away, staring directly at her. 

“I, uh…” he mumbled, stumbling over his thoughts. “I’m just really, really am gonna miss you…”

Night Glider walked up to him and wrapped her hooves around him. “Yeah, Double-D, I’m gonna miss you, too.”

Double Diamond returned the hug, wrapping himself tightly around Night Glider. He didn’t say anything, but Night Glider could feel gentle shivers as he held her tighter. Finally, they slowly broke apart.

“Is there, like…” Double Diamond momentarily trailed off, then shook his head. “Is there anything I can say?”

Night Glider slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry, Double-D, but my mind is made up.”

“I know I asked you this before, but do you think Modus will let you back in?”

Night Glider paused. “I think so. It’s been a year, and I’ve made no attempts to contact them. I think that at the very least, I should be able to talk to my parents. And if I talk to them, I’m sure we can figure out a way to... well, it should all work out!”

There was a pause as Double Diamond looked at her, then shook his head.

“Night Glider, who are you trying to convince?”

She looked away. “It will work out! I’m sure of it!”

Double Diamond sighed. “Look, I don’t want to bring you down. If you think it’ll work out, then that’s cool. I just, well, from everything you told us, things in Modus ended really badly. I just don’t want you to be hurt again, you know?”

“Thanks,” Night Glider said, “but I’ll be fine. I promise. And once things are all worked out, I’ll come visit you guys.”

“Or maybe I can come see Modus?”

Night Glider looked down. “They’re, well, they’re not that big on outsiders.” Double Diamond lowered his head, but Night Glider quickly raised his head back up and smiled. “But like I said, I’ll come back to visit! I promise!”

“Alright, I’m gonna hold you to that,” he said. “And listen, if things don’t work out, if Modus refuses to want you back… I know you said everypony deserves a home. Well, you can always consider this your home.”

The words rung in Night Glider’s ears. She looked past Double Diamond, to the town. Many ponies were still waving goodbye to her while others had gone about their day. Most of them began to surround the half-finished town hall, talking about what they were going to work on that day. There was an air of happiness in their voices and in the way they spoke to each other. They were genuinely excited to be working together.

She looked into Double Diamond’s eyes. “Thanks. I’ll remember that.” Double Diamond blushed, and Night Glider looked to the side. “Well, I think I should get going. See you again some day, Double-D.”

Double Diamond waved goodbye, and with one final nod, Night Glider unfurled her wings and lifted off into the air. She looked back over the town one last time, then turned and flew off, the wind blowing her mane back and her locket jingling in flight, towards the vast desert.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rain clouds had been forming high overhead for hours. Most ponies preferred sunny days, but Night Glider always liked it when the clouds were heavy.

She had been traveling almost nonstop since leaving town, traversing a vast desert on her way back to Modus. Slowly, the shifting sands and hot sun had given way to the lush fields and colors that Equestria was known for. It had been just the change of scenery she was looking forward to, having seen nothing but a small oasis in the middle of a desert for nearly a year. Though she had expected to find joy and nervous excitement to keep her going, she instead found herself hovering back and forth just off the ground on the edge of a vast tract of trees.

Rocky crags loomed high to the west above the dense canopy line, casting a long shadow over all the forest. She briefly looked at them, and could feel goosebumps shooting up her legs before she turned her head away quickly, trying to ignore them. She closed her eyes and flew forward through the air, but stopped swiftly and suddenly short mere inches away from the treeline. The scent of dead pine had entered her nostrils. It had been a long time, but she could still remember the exact night she last smelled it, the last time she was in the forest. Her wing beats slowed, and she gently returned to the ground.  

She rocked back and forth on her hooves, unsure of what to do, until her head turned skyward. It would be so very easy to just fly over the whole thing and continue on her journey to Modus. She took a deep breath and took off into the air again, this time flying up over the tops of the trees. She couldn’t see the other end of the forest, but she knew if she just headed straight, she could make it there quickly.

She started forward when another thought entered her mind: Modus. The night she had been exiled. She froze in mid-air, then looked down at the trees. She snorted, then forced herself back downward until she was level with them again.

“I can do this,” she muttered to herself.

Slowly, she turned her head towards the rocky crags that marked the west side of the forest. She found herself instinctively holding onto her locket, idly jingling it. She looked down at the heirloom, popping it open and staring at her parents inside, but closed it quickly and looked straight forward at the vast sea of green before her.

“I promised I wouldn’t go back to that cave, so I don’t have to. I can just go straight through. I’m not the same pony I was a year ago, I can do this.”

Night Glider took a deep breath and flew forward into the forest. It only took a few feet before she realized that at this point, flying wasn’t going to be the best option if she wanted to get through: there were just too many branches and trees in the way, and any sort of speed would be a disaster.

She looked upwards, barely able to make out the dark sky through the trees looming above her. A little rain could solve her problem quickly, but as dark as the clouds were, they didn’t quite seem ready to give up their bounty. She sighed and landed on the ground, then began to walk forward, scanning the ground for any sort of path. She carefully stepped over the plants and ducked between trees, trying to keep her bearings about her and moving in the same direction.

Despite everything, the forest was still. She could hear a few insects on the tree to her right skittering up and down, and the rustling of leaves around her, but other than that, it was silent. Night Glider closed her eyes, trying to catch some kind of noise as she walked, but there just wasn’t enough to go on.

She continued walking, occasionally stopping to take stock of where she was. It was hard to do, when so much of the forest looked the same, just trees stretching high above her and bushes and vines messily covering the ground. The only path that lead cleanly through the forest was a vaguely trodden one, and Night Glider followed it closely, stepping around the bushes in the path as best she could.

She pushed her way through a tangle of plants and found herself at a crossroads on the path. One kept going forward off into the forest and the other veered to the left. She shifted her gaze between the two paths, racking her brain as to where to go next.

“Wait, which one…” she mumbled, trying to remember with path she had taken to first leave the forest. She closed her eyes, trying to think, while her hoof grasped her locket, slowly shaking it.

Vines hanging down over the path, a few paces to the left. Beyond that, just the cliffs. Thirty feet away?

She let go of the locket and took a few steps forward, but abruptly stopped as a leaf to her right was suddenly struck by something. Before she could zero in on it, she heard another, and then another. She turned her head upwards, feeling drop after drop of rain start to bounce off her face. 

“About time!” she said. As the rain picked up, she closed her eyes once again, and the forest revealed itself to her.

Fifty feet forward, trees on either side of the path. Off the path, some bushes. Baneberries. Vines hanging down from the canopy, twenty-three feet above the ground. Trees to the right are roughly two feet apart. The cliffs are only twenty-five feet away, not thirty.

Her wings flapped, sending more rain splashing everywhere. With a quick look around the forest, she rose into the air and took off.

Rain bounced off her face and body as she zoomed forward, dodging the trees as she went faster and faster. A thick trunk quickly came up in front of her, and she swerved to the side, twirling around it and speeding off in another direction, dodging through some vines and coming to a stop in an opening. She took a moment to reorient herself, then faced north.

She hovered in midair and stared into the green. All around her, the storm was intensifying, and she could make out more and more of the forest: every inch of growth on the ground, the contour of every tree. She slowly turned away from the path she was facing to observe everything around her. She began to smile, and in a flash, she was off, flying east.

A gust of wind sent a branch falling down, sending water bursting in front of her. Night Glider blew through it, picking up as much speed as she could. With a large embankment of trees approaching, she squinted and sped up, doing a sharp turn at the last second and flying alongside them, close enough to feel the leaves brushing against her wing. As soon as there was a path open, she twisted her body and flew between two tangled trees, bursting through a mess of leaves into another clearing, but passing straight through and going right back into the thick.

She was laughing. She couldn’t help it. She had explored the forest a year ago, but only for a few days, and even then, never far from one place. Now she was flying every which way she could, all her cares left in the wind as she soared through the forest. She turned her body and flew upwards, cresting the tops of the canopy and observing the vast forest from above, before diving through the trees and speeding off.

Minutes ticked by, the rain only got harder. Night Glider was shivering, her body weighed down by all the water absorbed into her fur, but she didn’t care. Night Glider landed in the middle of the forest. She was soaked and it was hard to see through the rain, but she didn’t care; she could make out almost the entire forest around her. The laughter had stopped, but she couldn't get rid of the smile on her face as she looked around, taking in everything around her.

“Hah… alright, let’s see,” she finally said, “where’s that path?” She closed her eyes and concentrated on the forest, becoming absorbed in the sounds around her.

Nineteen feet to the right, more trees, no room for a path between them. There’s a bit of a clearing fifteen feet forward, just enough for a pony to squeeze through, that might be—

As she was zeroing in on the path out of the forest, something small struck her in the back of the head.

Suddenly thrown out of her concentration, Night Glider looked around quickly before hearing something small hit the ground beside her. She crouched down to examine it, seeing a small chunk of ice sitting on top of a leaf.

“Uh oh…” she mumbled. Within seconds, more hail was pouring down, mixing with the rain and bouncing off Night Glider. She quickly galloped to the side and dove under the nearest tree.

“Okay, no big deal,” she said. She waited for the hail to let up, but after a minute, it was just coming down harder, with larger chunks crashing down into the forest. The tree above her very quickly became inadequate cover, and she found herself being pelted by more hail.

She leapt back to her hooves and galloped away, hugging close to the trees to stay out of danger as best she could. The winds were blowing the trees back and forth, and the hail was only getting worse, rendering it harder to find any sort of safe cover. 

Night Glider briefly tried to take off into the air, but the hail slammed into her wings, sending her crashing back to the ground. She scrambled back up and stumbled forward, regaining her footing as she dove under another large tree.

“Come on, let up already!” she yelled, glancing upward at the clouds and rain above, her hoof shielding her eyes from the hail. The tree wasn’t providing good enough cover, and she desperately scanned the area to find something better. Overhead, there was a massive clap of thunder, and as the aftershock rumbled, Night Glider froze.

Fifty feet to the west… the cave.

She shook her head to chase the thought away, but a bright flash of lightning briefly revealed the rocky walls a short distance away. Before she even had time to think, she was galloping towards it, pushing her way through the vegetation and rain. 

The storm was quickly getting worse, with more and more hail pelting her as she ran. She dodged between trees as best she could in the circumstances, until another large clap of thunder momentarily broke her concentration and her shoulder scraped against a chunk of bark awkwardly sticking out of the tree.

Pain shot through her forehoof and she fell to the ground. She clutched at her shoulder and looked up, just as a flash of lightning illuminated the world around her for a brief second, and she could see just how close she was to the cliffs. She forced herself back to her hooves, shook out her foreleg, and continued galloping.

She shoved her way through a large bush and found herself staring at the entrance to a darkened cave. There was another flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, enough for Night Glider to recognize a small, crumpled-up blanket discarded to one side of the back of the cave.

After what had happened, she never thought she would have to see her makeshift home again.

~~~~~~~~~~

The wind howled outside. Night Glider huddled as best she could under her blanket. It wasn’t much, but it was the only cover that she could find to deal with the cold night.

She stretched herself out as best she could over the only flat ground she could find in the cave. She curled herself into a ball, trying to find some sort of partially comfortable position, with no luck. This was going to be another sleepless night.

There was another howl of wind, making Night Glider bury herself even deeper in the blanket. She longed for her bed in Modus. She longed for any kind of bed. Night Glider just wanted any semblance of normalcy in her life back. It had been weeks since she had left Modus, and quickly had run out of civilized places to stay. 

She didn’t care. She was still trying to make sense of what her life had become. 

“Hello?”

Night Glider’s head shot up as a voice came from the end of the cave. As the voice echoed, she could see a pale white pony standing in the entrance to the cave, peering inward.

“Anypony here?”

“Go away!” Night Glider yelled. 

The pony gasped and started to walk forward. “Are you Night Glider?”

Night Glider leapt to her hooves. “Who are you? How do you know my name?”

The pony continued to step forward. Night Glider backed up, ready to defend herself at a moment’s notice.

“No, it’s okay. I’m a friend,” he said. “I… we heard you were somewhere in this forest. My name is Double Diamond, I’m here to help you.”

“Y-you are?” Night Glider stuttered.

“Yeah, we are,” Double Diamond said.

“We?”

Double Diamond looked back to the entrance of the cave. “She’s in here! I found her!”

He turned back and walked closer to Night Glider. She was now able to see him better. He had a white coat and matching white hair and mane, both perfectly cut and styled. He had a big smile on his face, but what stuck out the most to her was his Cutie Mark: two plain black lines next to each other, resembling an equal sign.

She was about to say something when another pony walked into the cave. As she approached, Night Glider immediately saw that her Cutie Mark was an equal sign, just like Double Diamond’s. As soon as the pink unicorn locked eyes with her, she smiled.

“Hello,” she said in a calm, soothing voice. “You must be Night Glider.”

“Who are you ponies?!” Night Glider said, putting her back to the cave wall.

“My name is Starlight Glimmer,” she said, “and I’m just here to help you.”

Starlight continued to walk forward. There was something about the tone of her voice that stuck with Night Glider.

“How do you two know me?” she quietly asked.

“I have my sources,” Starlight said. “I heard that you had been treated terribly in Modus. That they don’t want you around any more.”

Night Glider turned her head away. “I… um…”

“It’s okay,” Starlight said. “You don’t have to hide anything from me. I promise I’m just here to help you.”

“You are?”

Starlight smiled. “Yes. Now tell me, do you know why they kicked you out?”

Night Glider nodded. “Because I screwed up, like I always do. And ponies got hurt.”

Starlight leaned in. “And?”

For a few moments, the only sound was the howling wind outside. NIght Glider shivered.

“...and I’m different.”

For just a split second, Night Glider swore she saw a shimmer in Starlight’s eyes.

“Because you’re different, Night Glider,” Starlight repeated. “If everything I heard about you is true, you are a very, very special pony. And I bet that bothered a lot of ponies in Modus?” 

“Yeah…”

“Well that’s why I’m here,” Starlight continued. “You see, there is a place here for you. A place where nopony will care if you’re different, because nopony is different.”

Night Glider looked up at Double Diamond, who was nodding in agreement, then turned back to Starlight. “There is?”

“We already have a whole community of like-minded, equal ponies there,” Starlight said. “I swear to you, you will never be judged again for being different.”

Night Glider could feel a lump forming in her throat. “I… won’t?”

“No way!” Double Diamond said, a huge grin on his face. “All of us are equal in our town! We don’t judge each other, because all of us are perfect equals. Right, Starlight?”

Night Glider’s lip began to quiver. She looked over at Starlight, who again responded with a warm, inviting smile. Starlight reached over and put her hoof on Night Glider’s shoulder.

“That’s right,” she said softly. “Night Glider, I believe that your example could be used to show all of Equestria that differences make us hate, but equality makes us love. Just come with us, and I promise you’ll have a home again.”

The word ‘home’ struck Night Glider. She couldn’t stop herself as she leaned forward and wrapped her forelimbs around Starlight Glimmer. Tears streamed down her face as she held the hug tighter, Starlight returning it and gently patting her on the back.

“T-t-thank you,” she stammered through sobs. “Y-yes… please… I-I don’t have anywhere else to g-go...”

Starlight Glimmer held her close. “It’s okay, Night Glider. Being different is awful, isn’t it?” Night Glider nodded. “Now, let’s get going to a place where you’ll finally be equal.”

Starlight and Double Diamond helped Night Glider walk out of the cave. Night Glider wiped the tears from her eyes as they walked into the forest, Starlight’s horn illuminating a path south.

“Thank you so much…” Night Glider barely got out through sobs.

“I should be the one thanking you,” Starlight said. “I think you are going to do wonderful things for our community.”

Double Diamond looked back. “Hey, you forgot your blanket…”

“I don’t care,” Night Glider said, pressing herself closer to Starlight Glimmer. “I’m never going back in there again.”

~~~~~~~~~~

A loud thunderclap roared overhead, so loud that it made Night Glider jump. She pressed herself against the nearest tree, desperate to find some kind of shelter from the hail, but nothing was working. Her hooves were shaking as she stared at the blanket crumpled up in the cave.

Her brain was screaming at her to get out of the storm, but her hooves refused to listen. She closed her eyes and concentrated, nervously holding her locket, trying desperately to sense something—anything—that she could use as cover, but no matter how far she reached, there was nothing. Nothing, except the cave.

“Don’t make me do this…” she muttered. Another crash of thunder came from overhead, and for a moment she knew every contour, every rock, every inch of the cave. “Don’t make me do this!!!” she screamed, slamming her hoof into the tree she was cowering under, sending bark flying back at her.

She closed her eyes, realizing that she had to get to shelter, and only one was available. She held the locket in her hoof tightly as she finally raised her hoof and took a step forward.

“Hello?”

Night Glider’s hoof froze in midair. A voice had called to her from somewhere. She jerked her head around, trying to find the source.

“Is there somepony down there?” the voice yelled again. Night Glider looked up; the voice was coming from somewhere above her. “I thought I heard somepony yell something, is anyone down there?”

Night Glider shielded her eyes from the rain as best she could to scan the clouds; there wasn’t much to see other than rain and darkness, but she could just barely make out a small patch of light.

“H-hello?” Night Glider yelled back.

“Oh my gosh!” came the response. “What are you doing here? The storm’s only gonna get worse!”

“I was just flying through!” Night Glider yelled back. “I’ll, um… be fine,” she said, momentarily looking back at the cave.

“No way, this storm ain’t letting up for hours! Hang on!”

Night Glider squinted at the sky, trying to figure out what the pony was doing. She could just barely make out a few voices over the rain and hail, before a section of the clouds were suddenly parted. She could see a patch of blue, quickly moving across the sky.

“Come on, get up here!” the voice yelled.

“I-I’m fine,” Night Glider replied. “I can just, um… I can just find my own cover.”

“Are you sure?”

“I, uh…”

“Come on, the storm’s gonna close up this hole quick!”

Night Glider stared up at the blue hole in the clouds. For a brief second, she looked back at the cave, but when another clap of thunder rumbled overhead, she closed her eyes, let in a deep breath, grasped her locket in her hoof, and took off into the air. She flew up in the direction of the hole in the clouds, her eyes closed as hail and rain bounced off of her. She kept her eyes tightly shut as she flew towards the only area without the sound of rain, hoping that she was going the right way. 

Hail continued to batter her wings, but it just made her flap her feathers harder, inching through the onslaught. The rain was coming down so hard that it disoriented. For a few seconds she flew blindly, unable to open her eyes in the hail.

She let go of her locket, so that it whipped furiously back and forth around her neck. The sound reverberated in her ears.

10 feet to the left. No rain there.

She made a sharp turn to her left and flew. Within seconds the rain and hail abruptly stopped around her. She turned up and flew, opening her eyes to the blue skies above her. With one last burst of speed she flew above the clouds, just as the storm overtook the hole that had been cut for her.

Night Glider landed on a cloud, immediately collapsing down onto it and shutting her eyes. She took a deep breath of the fresh air, feeling the warmth of the sun on her back as she lay prone for a minute, not willing to move. Finally she rolled over on her back and opened her eyes to find herself staring at three pegasi right above her.

“You okay?” one of them asked.

“Yeah,” Night Glider replied as she rolled up to her hooves. “T-thanks for that. I’m Night Glider, by the way.”

“No problem!” one of them, a red mare with a pink mane, said. “I’m Crimson Glint. This is Aurora Dawn, and he’s Wild Spark. What in Equestria were you doing down there?”

“I’m flying home,” Night Glider said. “I didn’t expect to run into the mother of all storms.”

“There should have been notices posted in town halls all around the area,” Wild Spark said, pulling a clipboard out of his saddle bag and flipping through it. “Cloudsdale gave us a list of places to notify, I’m sure I hit them all.”

“Oh, um… our town is way on the edge of the desert.”

“I don’t have any record of a town out there.”

“Eh, you wouldn’t.”

“Whatever, it all worked out!” Aurora Dawn said. “We’re just glad you’re okay!”

Night Glider opened her mouth, but to her surprise, no words came out. For a moment, she wasn’t sure how to respond to what Aurora had said. 

“T-thanks,” Night Glider finally said.

“So, you’re flying home?” Crimson Glint said. “I’m assuming Palmacolta?”

“Nah,” Night Glider said, “although I’m probably gonna stop there. My home is Modus.”

All three ponies stared at her. 

“You’re from Modus?” Wild Spark said. “Really?”

“Huh. That’s cool!” Aurora said. “I once met a pony from Modus, back when I was visiting Canterlot. He was all serious and cold, though. I hear that they don’t really like other ponies. It’s nice to meet somepony from there who actually knows how to talk to others for a change!”

“Aurora, don’t be rude,” Crimson said. “That’s her home you’re talking about.”

Night Glider stared at Aurora Dawn. For a second, her thoughts went back to Modus, to memories from before she left. To ponies constantly glaring at her out of the corner of their eyes. Ignoring her every move, except when she made a mistake. Whispering any time they were near her.

“No, it’s fine,” Night Glider said. “You’re right, ponies in Modus can be cold. We really don’t like our citizens having any contact with the rest of Equestria.”

“Yeah, see?” Aurora extended a wing and wrapped it around Night Glider’s shoulder, causing her to jump. “Oh man, now I have a friend from Modus! This rules!”

Wild Spark rolled his eyes. “Don’t mind Aurora. She’s a little excitable, and this is her first—”

“Oh, you know what?” Aurora suddenly interjected. “You should totally come visit us in Cloudsdale!”

“Cloudsdale?” Night Glider looked at the other two ponies, who were both smiling at her. Her thoughts were still with Modus, no matter how much she tried to concentrate on the ponies in front of her. “I’ve, uh, never been there. Do you think ponies would be okay with me being there?”

Crimson looked over at Aurora with one eyebrow raised. “Uh… I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be okay with you.”

“They wouldn’t?” Night Glider shook her memories of Modus out of her mind for a moment, and smiled. “I mean, yeah, I guess they wouldn’t really mind…”

“Of course not!” Aurora said. “So come visit us! We all work at the Cloudsdale Weather Association of Cloudsdale, just look us up when you swing by!”

“It’s just the Cloudsdale Weather Association…” Wild Spark said. “But hey, if you ever do come up to the area, you can look us up if you want to. We’d be happy to show you around! It’s not often you meet a pegasus who has never been to Cloudsdale before, much less a pony from Modus. I’m sure a few ponies at Cloudsdale University would like to talk to you, too.”

“But Sparkyyyy, that’s booooring!” Aurora pleaded. “I wanna take her to the Wonderbolts Arena, and the rain factory, and—”

Crimson Glint put her hoof over Aurora’s mouth, silencing her rant. “Look, the point is, feel free to come to Cloudsdale. All pegasi should visit at some point!”

“Well, thanks,” Night Glider said. She looked out into the distance. “I should really get back to flying, I was hoping to hit Palmacolta by tomorrow.”

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay flying?” Wild Spark said. “Your wings probably took a beating in that storm…”

Night Glider extended her wings fully and flapped them a few times. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. They’re feeling better.”

“Huh,” Crimson Glint mused. “Most pegasi I know would be down for the count for a while after that.”

Night Glider chuckled. “Well… I’m not most ponies.” Suddenly, she found herself wrapped in a hug from the side.

“You gotta promise you’ll visit us in Cloudsdale!” Aurora Dawn exclaimed. “Say you will! You gotta!”

“S-sure, I’ll stop by at some point!” Night Glider said. “Cloudsdale Weather Association, right? I’ll look you guys up. Thanks again!”

“Yeah yeah yeah!” she said. “Say hi to all the ponies in Modus for me. See you around!”

“Hope to see you again,” Wild Spark said.

“Good luck on the journey!” 

With a quick flick of her wings, Night Glider was airborne again. She looked back at the three ponies who had rescued her, all of them waving. She smiled and gave them a big wave back, then turned and flew north.

The storm was still raging below her, but Night Glider had a smile on her face. She had never been to Cloudsdale, but the other pegasi in Starlight’s town had told her about it. An entire city in the sky, populated exclusively by pegasi. She had never seen any pictures of it, but her own image of the city was shimmering in her eye. It could be a grand city of clouds, pegasi flying every which way, entire weather systems being built from the ground up.

She was already trying to figure out when she could visit Cloudsdale. Once she had gotten back to Modus and been accepted, she would prove to all the ponies there that their thoughts on her were wrong. She could be just like them. And after a few months, she could take a quick break to visit Starlight’s town to see how things were going, then she could travel across Equestria and finally visit Cloudsdale, meet up with her new friends and see…

“We really don’t like our citizens having any contact with the rest of Equestria.”

The smile faded from Night Glider’s face. She glanced down at the locket around her neck, then looked back. The three pegasi were back to observing the storm, carefully moving clouds around. There were distant, just blobs of color in the distance in a sea of white.

Night Glider turned forward. “I can’t let these things distract me,” she muttered. “Modus is the priority. I just gotta go… home…”

Without another look back, she lowered her head and sped off, racing north. Hoping to put the forest behind her as quickly as possible.

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Glider’s wings ached. She briefly perched on a tree and stretched them out, pulling at a loose feather as she stared off into the distance. She had never flown for such a long time in her life, but somehow, the sensation was not unfamiliar to her.

She surveyed her surroundings. She had left the forest hours ago, and now found herself on a fairly barren path with no discernible landmarks in any direction. Save for a few trees dotting the dirt road, there wasn’t a whole lot to look at. She stretched her neck and looked off into the distance. She still had a long way to go; it would take another day and a half of flying, at most, before she made it to Modus. 

Modus. The thought that she would actually be there soon, that she would be standing in front of the gates to her home, sent goosebumps up and down her back. She was actually going to be there. A smile crossed her face and she flicked her wings back, stretching them out and getting ready to take off again. A gust of wind blew her necklace to the side, the ding of its chimes reverberating in her ears. She grasped it in her hoof while her gaze slowly moved to the horizon. 

Her wings were still aching; she tried to ignore the pain as she let go of her necklace, then quickly took off into the air again. With each flap, another surge of pain shot through her wings. She gritted her teeth and pushed forward, but a sharp sting sent her off balance. She flapped furiously to get any sort of stability back as she rapidly approached the ground, barely managing to get her hooves out in time to land safely. 

For just a few seconds, everything was still. She slowly unfurled her wings, only for the pain to throb harder, and she instinctively snapped them back against her body. 

I guess I’m walking, she thought to herself as she trotted forward along the path, letting forth a deep sigh. 

She quietly walked, only breaking the monotony to unfurl her wings every few minutes to see if the ache had gone away yet. After having flown for so long, the world seemed to be moving in slow motion by her as she trotted. Her gaze kept wandering upwards until she found herself looking directly at the sky, zeroing in on birds as they flew every which way.

The repetitive crunch of the dirt beneath her hooves was getting to Night Glider. She stifled a yawn, pressing forward and picking up her pace to try to get some semblance of speed back. Crunch, crunch, crunch: the sound was almost melodic. She yawned again, and looked towards the sky. Her wings instinctively unfurled, but the ache was still there, and they snapped back against her body before they could flap once.

With a third yawn, Night Glider stopped and stretched her body out. It hadn’t hit her just how exhausted she was after flying for so long. She had no idea what time it was, only a general sense of time based on the sky, but she found herself wondering when the last time she had actually stopped and rested.

She arched her back downwards, looking down the path and wondering if there was a place to set up camp for the night. As she scanned the area, there was a glimmer of light far, far in the distance. Night Glider zeroed in on it and waited for a few seconds, before it glimmered again. She inhaled sharply through her nose as she realized what it was.

It had been a long time. She had only been outside of Modus a few times growing up, and every time was a trip to the greatest port city in all of Equestria: Palmacolta. As a filly, the few times she had been to Palmacolta had stuck in her memory: a big city right on the shore of the ocean, ponies openly talking to each other and waving as she trotted by. A bustling city full of life. Her memories of the city remained strong, but it had been years since she had been there. And one memory remained particularly strong.

“Dusty!”

Only one pony had never judged her for being different when she lived in Modus. One pony who treated her as an equal. Dusty ran an inn and tavern in Palmacolta with his wife, and Night Glider spent as much time as she could hanging out with Dusty whenever she and other ponies had gone to the coastal city. It had been years since she had seen him, but she could practically hear his voice already.

With a newfound energy surging through her, she started galloping. It would only take a half-hour of running, but she couldn’t wait. Dusty would probably be awake, and she’d finally be able to reconnect with a pony on her journey. She stifled a yawn as she ran down the path, already anticipating seeing Dusty’s smiling face again.

The more she ran, the more the terrain changed. The empty fields were giving way to farmhouses, scattered buildings around, and firefly lanterns on either side of the road. Even the crunch of the path beneath her hooves gave way to the sound of cobblestones as the dirt became a hoof-made road. The lights in the distance were getting brighter; despite the time, Palmacolta appeared to be wide awake.

She came to a fork in the path. One path headed off to the left, cobblestones leading the way towards the water, where Palmacolta now lit up the area far clearer. The other path was an old dirt one leading off into the middle of nowhere. Night Glider squinted down the dirt path, but there was nothing to be seen, just some rocks in the far distance.

She turned and started down the cobblestone path. Her wings were still aching, but she knew that if she kept the pace up, it wouldn’t take long before she could relax. The images of the city danced in her mind: the ponies, the buildings, the soothing sound of the sea washing over the shore, the chance to see her only friend outside of Starlight’s town…

“Hello!”

Night Glider’s ears twitched. She looked around, having sworn she heard something, but there was nopony in sight. She turned back and continued walking.

”Anypony?!”

She stopped. This time she was sure that she had heard something. She looked at her surroundings, trying to find the source, but everything around her was still, not any indication of a pony near her. She stood perfectly still, trying to block out any other sound around her to zero in on what she had heard. After a few seconds, her ears twitched again.

“H-help! Somepony, please!”

Night Glider whirled around, back towards the dirt path. The voice was faint, but she had a general idea of the direction it was coming from. Before she could move, there was a sudden loud rumbling in the ground that lasted for a few seconds before going away. She started trotting—slowly at first, but when she heard the voice again, it became a gallop. She frantically looked around, trying to find the exact source. 

After a few minutes, the voice had gotten louder, but as Night Glider glanced from left to right, and all around her, she still couldn’t see anypony.

“Hello?” Night Glider yelled. She heard a gasp.

“I-I’m down here!” A voice said in a hushed tone.

Night Glider turned towards where the voice was, seeing a long pile of rocks fifty feet away.

“What’s wrong?” Night Glider called back, running towards the rocks. “Anything I can do to help?”

She trailed off as she came to the rocks and stared downward. A massive gorge, twenty feet across and at least fifty feet deep, spanned below her. There was very little light showing anything in the gorge, but as she squinted, she could see a small amount of movement in the far corner at the bottom of the gorge.

“I can’t g-get out!” the voice sobbed quietly.

Night Glider unfurled her wings, but a single flap sent more pain through them and she shut them quickly, then scanned the gorge. Some feet off to her right, enough rocks stuck out from the side of the gorge to form a path downwards, right near where the the voice was. 

“Hang on!” Night Glider said, quickly rushing over and jumping down the rocks. “Be there in a minute.”

“Shhhhhhhh!” the pony suddenly said. “Don’t talk so loud. They’ll hear you!”

“Who will—”

Night Glider was only halfway down the path when she was interrupted by a rumbling sound. She turned to look at the wall, which was actively shaking.

Something is coming, and fast.

She barely had time to jump out of the way as something burst through the wall. She tumbled down to the bottom of the gorge and looked up, wide-eyed, as a monstrous creature trashed about, biting. Suddenly the entire gorge was awash in activity, with more of the creatures coming out of holes and letting out loud screeches. Night Glider huddled against the wall, trying not to move or even breathe, until the creatures slowly returned to their caves.

Night Glider waited another minute to make sure the creatures had gone, before she looked to her side. A few feet away, a small filly with a dark green coat and dark red hair sat against the wall, shivering. Half of her hair was tied with a bow, the other half messily running down the side of her head. Her right front hoof was stained with blood, with her other bow wrapped around it.

“H… Hi….” she mumbled.

Night Glider crouched down next to her. “Hey. I’m Night Glider. What happened?”

“I-I’m Olive Branch,” the girl said. “I was just p-playing near the gorge, and I lost my balance and fell in and now I c-can’t get out…”

Night Glider turned her head upwards. “But what were those things?”

“T-they’re quarray eels,” Olive said. “They hide out in the walls, then come out if anything comes near them or makes a lot of noise. I dunno if we can m-make it back up without them hearing us…”

Night Glider reached down and helped the filly to her feet, holding her up so she wouldn’t have to put pressure on her hurt leg. “Don’t worry, let me help you.”

“Are you sure?” Olive Branch said.

Night Glider nodded, and began walking the filly back up the path. She took as quiet hoofsteps as she could, carefully looking around to make sure there were none of the giant eels noticing them. They only made it a part of the way up when the same hole that the eel had burst out of rumbled again. The sound was quickly amplified, and Night Glider grabbed Olive Branch and jumped back down as the eel burst from the hole. For another few seconds, the entire trench was a flurry of activity, the two ponies huddling in the corner as the quarray eels writhed and snapped at the air and at each other until they again retreated to their holes. 

“Okay…” Night Glider whispered. “So that’s not going to work.”

“Can we just fly out?”

Night Glider unfurled her wings, but the sharp pain was still there. “I… don’t know if I want to risk it.”

Olive Branch nodded. “Maybe if we just wait, my parents will get worried about me and send somepony.”

Night Glider shook her head. “You can’t just assume that’s going to happen.” She looked around, then picked a rock up from the ground. “On my signal, we’ll go.” She wound up and threw the rock as far as she could. As soon as it hit the ground, the eels popped back out, gnashing at each other. 

“Okay, let’s hurry! They’re distracted!”

Olive Branch jumped onto Night Glider’s back, and she began to run up the path. She had gotten halfway up when the eels began to calm down, and there was a brief moment of quiet before her foot caught on a single rock, which fell and rattled against the ground. Almost instantaneously, one of the eels turned and lunged.

Night Glider leapt backwards and dodged the bite, tumbling down off the side of the path. She twisted her body and wrapped herself around the little filly, landing back-first on the ground with Olive on top of her, and their full weight pressed into Night Glider’s wings. She bit her tongue to stifle a scream as there was an intense throb of pain. They lay silently, Night Glider holding the filly tight to her, until the eels once again returned to their caves.

“Hey… are you okay?” Night Glider whispered. Olive Branch nodded, and Night Glider gently put her down. “Good.”

Olive slumped down to her knees. “I really hope somepony’s gonna come help us…”

“Hang on, let me think,” Night Glider said. “I’m sure I can come up with something.”

“A-are you sure? We should wait for somepony to help—”

“No!” Night Glider hissed, briefly causing a rattling around her. “Listen, Olive. A lot of the time—most of the time—I’ve had to get myself out of situations because other ponies won’t lift a hoof to help me. I’m not gonna let that happen to you. I’ll get us out of this, I promise!”

Olive Branch nodded, and Night Glider turned back to the gorge, looking around at the numerous holes that ran along the sides. She closed her eyes, gently nodding her head up and down, her necklace chiming; for a few moments, she could sense how far into each cave the eels were, even hear their slow breathing. She took a long look down the gorge again.

“Okay, I think I have a plan,” she said, turning back to Olive. “I’m going to run over there and distract them, and you can run out of here.”

“What?” Olive said. “B-but…”

“I’ll be fine,” Night Glider said. “I can dodge them on the ground until you’re outta here, then I can run up.”

“I don’t—”

Night Glider looked back down the gorge, crouching down and stretching her hooves. “It’s our best bet to get out of here. Trust me. We’re gonna get out.”

There was a pause, and Olive Branch nodded. “Okay, I do.”

“You do what?”

“I trust you.”

Night Glider stopped and stared into the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~

Night Glider sat in her room, her ear pressed up against the door. She hated being treated like a child, but with the mayor visiting her parents, he had asked if he could talk to them in private. Not that that would stop her: the mayor always tended to underestimate Night Glider’s abilities.

“Dusk Gaze, surely you understand my trepidation with allowing Night Glider to do this,” the mayor said.

“I do, but you have to know what Night Glider is capable of by now,” her father replied.

“I am well aware,” was the response. “It is those capabilities that worry me.”

“She will be fine!” Night Glider’s mom interjected. “I know that everypony is very wary of her, but this is something she’s wanted for years.”

“I am not concerned with what Night Glider wants. I am concerned for the very safety of the citizens of Modus.”

Night Glider shuddered. She closed her eyes tight, the silence from the other room tearing her apart.

“Please,” her father said. There was more silence, then a sigh.

“If you continue to insist,” the mayor said, “I suppose I could allow her in.”

Night Glider’s eyes shot open, and she gasped. She was sure the gasp was loud enough for the other room, but she didn’t care. Her lip was quivering. She couldn’t believe it. 

“Thank you so much,” her father said. “It is nice to know that even with Night Glider’s differences, you can still trust her enough to—”

“Trust?” the mayor interjected. “Let me make one thing clear: I trust you. I trust both of you. But I have no trust in Night Glider. And I doubt any pony in Modus does, either.”

Night Glider didn’t move. Her lip had stopped quivering; she was just staring straight ahead.

“Nevertheless, I will allow her this,” the mayor said. “And pray that it is not a mistake.”

There were some pleasantries exchanged after that, but Night Glider was no longer paying attention. The Mayor’s words about trust were ringing in her ears, but she was pushing them out of her mind. She laid with her back against the door, a smile on her face. 

It had taken months, years, of begging, pleading, trying to prove herself. And now finally, it had paid off. This was it. Her chance to finally prove that she wasn’t different. She was normal.

She would earn their trust. She just knew it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Night Glider turned to look at Olive Branch. “You… trust me?”

Olive Branch nodded. “Yeah?”

Night Glider stared at her, then looked back to the gorge.  “Okay… Y-you trust me…” Night Glider took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as a smile grew across her face. “You trust me. Can’t let you down, can I? Alright, when they’re all distracted, you go.”

Olive nodded again, and Night Glider rushed forward. She stomped her hooves as loud as she could as she ran, immediately hearing the rumbling coming from the walls.

“Hey. Heeeeeeey!” She yelled. “Here I am, come get me!”

The eels burst from the wall, screeching and looking for the source of the noise. Night Glider gulped down the ball of saliva in her throat, and took a deep breath.

Two coming in, from either side. 3...2...1…

Night Glider dove out of the way, and two of the eels crashed into each other. She ran under one of them.

Eel from above, closing in quickly.

She leapt to the right as an eel smashed into the ground, its teeth stuck in the rock. Night Glider looked up; through the flurry of activity, Olive Branch was hobbling her way up the path that led out.

Straight ahead, eel is changing directions

She threw herself to the ground just in time to dodge under another eel’s lunge. The eel slammed into the one behind her, and she could hear the sound of the two tangling around one another.

She briefly glanced back to see the eels starting to go to war with each other, giving her enough time to rush away. She turned back to check on Olive, and a chill went down her back. Olive had frozen, her back pressed against the wall, as in front of her, one of the eels loomed threatening, its eyes on the tiny morsel.

“Hey!” Night Glider yelled, trying to get its attention to no avail. She began galloping as fast as she could, trying to get back to Olive Branch before anything happened, but another loud rumble came from beneath her. Before she had time to react, another quarray eel burst from below, and she found herself standing on top of it as it rose up. It opened its massive jaw and Night Glider lost her hoofing. She tumbled to the side, barely grabbing on to the front tooth of the creature.

The eel whipped its body back and forth, screeching, as Night Glider held on for dear life. She looked back to see Olive Branch cowering, the eel in front of her seemingly toying with its prey before making the strike.

Something in Night Glider’s mind sparked, and for just a split-second she was back to the day before she was exiled. She could hear and see everything again: the terrified screams of other ponies, the sounds of broken bones and torn wings, the feeling of helplessness to stop what was happening. 

Then, there was a different voice that she heard. It was another cry for help. She briefly didn’t recognize the voice; it was far too high pitched to be any of the ponies who had been there. 

“Olive!”

She tried to get a good look as the eel she was holding onto continued to thrash. For just a second, she caught a glimpse of Olive cowering as the eel was ready to strike.

This isn’t going to happen again!

Night Glider snorted, then planted her hooves on the chin of the eel and pulled back. The eel screeched in pain, and she pulled harder, feeling her hooves digging into the scaly skin of the monster. The eel trashed about, but Night Glider just pulled harder, her whole body shaking with exertion. Finally, something gave, and the eel’s tooth snapped in half. It reared back, letting out a mighty cry and retreating back, as Night Glider tumbled down.

Without another thought, she unfurled her wings, twisted around, and took off in mid-air. Her wings were burning, aching, every feather a pinpoint of white-hot pain. She didn’t care.

The eel lunged. Night Glider swooped in front of and grabbed Olive Branch in her front hooves, just barely dodging the eel as it sunk its fangs into the side of the gorge. Suddenly encumbered with more weight, Night Glider flapped her wings harder to compensate, though they felt like they were going to fall off. She gritted her teeth as she hauled Olive Branch up as the eel pulled itself from the wall and located them again. 

“Hang on!” Night Glider yelled. “Almost there!”

Olive Branch clutched Night Glider’s chest tightly as they could see the top of the gorge only feet away. Desperately trying to ignore the sheer exhaustion in her wings, Night Glider soared towards the top.

Eel coming in from below!

She lifted her back hooves just as the monster snapped at them, its hot breath on her back. With one last push, Night Glider cleared the top of the gorge. She quickly flew forward a few feet over the edge before she landed, where she and Olive collapsed.

Night Glider’s wings folded back against her body; her wings were so sore that there was no way she was going to be flying for hours, at least. She glanced over at Olive Branch. “Hey, kid, you okay?”

Olive Branch wiped the tears from her eyes. “Yeah.” She reached forward and wrapped her hooves around Night Glider’s neck. “T-thanks…”

Through her exhaustion, Night Glider laughed. “No problem, kid.”

Slowly, the sounds of the panicking and rampaging eels subsided, and there was silence. Night Glider slowly pushed her way to her hooves. “What were you doing playing around that gorge anyway?”

Olive Branch got up too, not putting any weight on her hurt hoof. “My parents kept telling me to stay away, but…”

Night Glider smiled. “Say no more, I get it. Come on, let’s get you home. Where do you live?”

“Palmacolta.”

“Oh, great, I was heading that way too.” Night Glider reached down and picked the filly up. She winced as Olive climbed onto her back. “Just, uh, watch the wings, kid.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The residential areas of Palmacolta were significantly calmer than the rest of it. Rows of quaint cottages trundled on by the sides of plain streets. Despite her previous visits to the city, Night Glider had never made it out here.

“So, which one is your house?” Night Glider asked. A hoof pointed forward from her back.

“Just turn at the next block, it’s the big red one,” Olive Branch said. 

Night Glider trotted on, admiring the area. The houses all being so close to each other gave a sense of warmth to the community. It reminded her of Starlight’s town, with all of the houses in a neat row, although this street was rather empty.

She turned the block, and stopped at an unexpected sight. Although the rest of the streets had been all but empty, the house she had been looking for was not only lit up, but ponies were milling all about, talking to each other. There were even a few police ponies standing around, talking.

“What’s going on?” Night Glider said.

“I bet they were looking for me!”

As Night Glider approached, one of the ponies looked over and saw her, then his gaze moved to Olive Branch on her back, and his eyes widened.

“Hey!” he yelled, drawing the attention of all the other ponies. “She’s here! Lovey Dove, Olive’s back!”

A white pony burst out the front door, looking around frantically until she spied Olive. Night Glider gently helped Olive down as the pony sprinted over, tears in her eyes, and immediately wrapped Olive in a hug.

“Where in Equestria were you?” she said, holding her daughter tighter. “We were so worried! We thought something had happened to you!”

“I-I fell into the gorge,” Olive Branch said. “I couldn’t get out. I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have played around there…”

“Never scare us like that again!” Lovey Dove said, before pulling away and gasping. “Your hoof!”

“I hurt it when I fell…”

“Let’s get you inside and get a bandage on you,” she said. Lovey was about to help her daughter in when she looked up at Night Glider. “I’ll be right in.”

With the help of one of the neighbors, Olive Branch made her way inside, as Lovely walked over to Night Glider. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before…”

“I’m from out of town,” Night Glider said.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Thank you so much for getting Olive Branch back safely. What happened?”

“Like she said, she fell into the gorge,” Night Glider replied. “I just helped her out. There were some, uh, quarray eels, and—”

“Quarray Eels?” The mom gasped. “That’s right, there are quarray eels there! Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you got her out in time!” She looked behind her and waved a police pony over. “Any idea where the search team is? I don’t want them to run into those nasty eels.”

The pony looked at his watch. “By now, they’re probably on the east side of the city. I’ll go let them know to call off the search.”

As the pony galloped off, Night Glider turned to Lovey. “Wow, a whole search party? Didn’t know Palmacolta police had a whole squad like that.”

“Oh, no, most of them are just volunteers,” Lovey said. “Friends and neighbors, mostly. It was so nice of them to help, especially at this time of day.”

Night Glider stared past Lovey to the ponies behind her who were only now starting to disperse. Most of them were still chatting, all clearly relieved that the event had a happy ending. She glanced through the window of the house, where one of them was carefully wrapping a bandage around Olive Branch’s injured hoof. The filly winced, but looked up through the window and caught Night Glider’s gaze. Olive smiled and waved to her and the pony who was helping followed her sight to Night Glider, and gave her a smile and nod as well.

“Huh…” Night Glider mused.

“Is everything okay?” Lovey Dove asked. “Is it something I said?”

Night Glider shook her head and turned back to her. “Oh, uh, no. Sorry, just… thinking.” 

“Well, anyway, thank you so much again for what you did,” Lovey said. 

“Glad to help,” Night Glider said, the sentence punctuated with a yawn.

“You do look a bit tired,” Lovey said. “If you’d like somewhere to stay, I’m sure we could make accommodations. It’s the least we can do.”

Night Glider opened her mouth to answer, but behind her, she saw the lights of Palmacolta shining. She closed her mouth for a second, and the reason for returning to the city came back to her. 

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” Night Glider said. “There’s somepony I’m meeting downtown, I think he’s going to let me stay with him.”

“You think?” Lovey said. “Well, if things don’t work out, feel free to come back. I’m in your debt for this.”

“Thank you.”

Night Glider nodded and trotted forward, joining the ponies who were leaving the scene and going back to their homes, as Lovey Dove walked back to her house to check on her daughter. Night Glider spread her wings briefly to check how they were feeling. The ache was still there, but significantly less than before. She gently folded them back against herself, then trotted off down the street, off towards Palmacolta. 

Towards her only friend. 

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Glider looked back and forth down the long streets of Palmacolta, taking in the city. So little had changed in the years since she had been there: buildings stretched in every direction, standing tall on either side of cobblestone streets. There were open markets everywhere, with ponies setting up to sell their goods to whomever walked by. And over it all, the gentle lull of the ocean crashing into the shore gave a calming feel to the town.

She stopped and took in a long sniff of the air: the scent of saltwater and seaweed sent Night Glider right back to being a filly, the few times she got to visit the city. It seemed so big to her back then, but standing in it now, it felt just as big, if not bigger. The streets reached far in either direction, butterfly lanterns dotting the roads, buildings stretching stories above her.

Night Glider glanced down the road stretching out towards the ocean: in the far distance she could just barely make out a single building, much smaller than the others in the city. She breathed a sigh of relief; there was a small part of her that had been worried it would be gone. Even at that distance, she could see that not much about the building had changed. And if the building hadn’t changed, she assumed that neither had the occupant.

She hadn’t even spent that much time with Dusty—she had probably only seen him a dozen times over her life—but he had become almost a grandfatherly figure to her, and she held every moment with him dear.

~~~~~~~~~~

Night Glider sipped on her juice, kicking her back legs under the table. She looked over at the nice pony behind the long table, and the pony smiled back at her. It only made Night Glider smile more. She had never been outside Modus before, and seeing so many ponies was exhilarating.

She looked at the door across the big room, where her parents were talking with somepony. They had told her that while they got work done in town, this must have been the first pony they needed to meet with. She hadn’t gotten the chance to see him yet, but she was already excited to meet him before she got to spend the day doing official Modus business.

Night Glider put her juice down and closed her eyes. She had to concentrate, but she was just barely able to make out the conversation.

“...dea how long I’ve been waitin’ to meet her?”

“We know, Dusty, and we’re sorry for not making it out to see you for so long. But after she was born, there were some issues we had to deal with, so we haven’t had the time to join others in the trip out here.”

“Well, no matter, yer here now. What kinda issues?”

“You should just go out and meet her yourself. You might be a bit surprised when you see her. She’s, well… different.”

Night Glider winced and looked down at the table. She had gotten so used to hearing that word from ponies in Modus, mostly in the form of whispers that they thought she couldn’t hear. She didn’t understand the stares that she got any time she left the house in Modus. The whispers… even the other students at the schoolhouse didn’t seem to want to sit next to her.

She shook her head to chase the thoughts away. She was just happy to be out of Modus for once, seeing another town. Palmacolta was so much more open than Modus, and had so many more ponies than she was used to seeing. All kinds of ponies! Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns… seeing all of them was such a treat for her. 

“Well, I think we have to get going, Modus business,” she heard her mom say. “Let’s go introduce you.”

The door opened, and her parents trotted out, with a third pony in tow. He was an older stallion with a faded yellow coat and mane, but most of his head was obscured by a large white hat. As they approached, Dusty paused, then looked over at her parents.

“Wait, is that her?” he asked. Her mom nodded. Dusty looked back at Night Glider for a second, looking her up and down as if analyzing her mere existence. Slowly, he smiled. “Ah. ‘Different.’ I gotcha.” 

“Night Glider, this is our old friend Dusty,” her dad said. “While we’re taking care of things for Modus, he’ll be watching you today.”

“What?” Night Glider leapt up, her front hooves balancing on the table, causing it to wobble. “I thought I was going with you guys!”

“Sorry, Night Glider, but you’re not old enough yet,” her mom said. “That, and… well, the mayor was against even bringing you in the first place, he doesn’t think-”

“I hate that old fart!” Night Glider yelled, “come on, let me do something! I’m tired of just sitting around and not being allowed to do anything!”

Dusty stared at Night Glider as she fumed, glaring back and forth at her parents. Her mom and dad glanced at each other, then her mom sighed.

“I’m sorry, Night Glider,” she said. “Just stay with Dusty for the day, please.”

“We should get going,” her dad said, turning towards the door.

“But—”

By then, her parents were already out the door. Night Glider limply reached a hoof out, then slowly let it fall to the table She looked up at Dusty, who tried smiling at her, but Night Glider just drooped back in her chair, angrily folding her forehooves and staring straight ahead of her. 

Dusty sat down next to her. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off.

“I’m sick of being treated like I’m different,” she muttered.

“I don’t blame ya,” Dusty replied. “Listen, I jus—”

“Go away!” Night Glider yelled.

“Look, I—”

“I said go away!” Night Glider turned away. “I don’t wanna talk to anypony right now.”

Dusty scratched the back of his head. “Stubborn, aintcha? Well, fine. I’ll get outa yer hair.”

Dusty stood up and trotted away. Night Glider stewed in her anger for a minute, then looked back. Dusty was busying himself behind the table, arranging some colorful bottles around. She slowly turned to face him, averting her gaze downward. “Um…”

“Hey, you wanted to be alone. You can just sit there quietly until yer parents get back.”

She coughed awkwardly, shuffling uncomfortably in her seat. A minute of complete silence went by, and Night Glider looked out the window at all the ponies walking around the grand coastal city. Dusty turned to look at her, then smiled and trotted back over.

“Ain’t fun bein’ alone, is it?”

“N-no…” Night Glider said. “I get a lot of that back in Modus.”

Dusty blinked, then sat down next to her. “Ya do?”

“Yeah. A lot of the other kids don’t want to hang out with me, because…” 

He held a hoof up, and Night Glider shut her mouth and looked at him. He smiled back.

“I’ve heard the word ‘different’ three times already in the past five minutes, and I ain’t in the mood to hear it again,” he said. “If you keep tellin’ yerself that, it’s gonna end up bein’ true, you know.”

Night Glider slowly returned the smile. “Thanks.”

Dusty hopped to his hooves. “Now come on, this is yer first time outside of Modus, right? You wanna go see the city?”

Night Glider’s eyes lit up. “B-but mom and dad wanted me to stay here.”

Dusty chuckled. “Well, we’ll still be in Palmacolta. I’m sure they’ll be okay with that.”

With an even bigger smile, Night Glider leapt down from the table and ran up next to Dusty, trotting next to him as they exited the tavern, out into the cool Palmacolta day.

~~~~~~~~~~

The door to the tavern still had a familiar, almost comforting creak as Night Glider stepped through. It was fairly empty: a pony was behind the bar, wiping down the counter, there were a few ponies sitting around and talking, and in the far corner of the room was a single pony, his hooves up on the table. His head was buried in a newspaper, but Night Glider couldn’t help but smile as she saw a familiar white hat over the top of the paper.

She trotted across the room to the table and stood across from the pony, waiting a few moments to see if he would notice her. When he didn’t, she reached over and pulled the newspaper down.

“And after all this time, you don’t even say hello,” she said with a grin.

Dusty stared at her for a second, before slamming the paper down hard enough to shake the table. “Well if it ain’t the sweet lil’ sapphire!” he yelled, jumping up to his hooves and grabbing Night Glider in a tight hug. “How you doin’, Night Glider? Been way too long!”

Night Glider winced. “Ow ow ow! It’s nice to see you, too, but watch the wings, Dusty!”

Dusty backed off. “Damn good to see ya, kid. Damn good. Sit down!” Night Glider sat across from Dusty, as he motioned to the pony behind the bar for something. “Hey, did that pony ever find you?”

“‘That pony?” Night Glider asked. “Who?”

“‘Bout a year ago, a pony came through town, asking about ponies who ‘didn’t fit in,’” Dusty said. “I told her about you, she got all excited and raced off to find ya.” He rubbed his chin. “Star… Star somethin’ or other, can’t remember her name.”

Night Glider shivered. “Oh, that’s how she knew where I was.”

“Nighty, if you were gonna refuse to stay here, I wasn’t gonna just let you live out in some forest like a hermit,” Dusty said as a waitress came by with two mugs and carefully set them on the table. “Yer too stubborn for yer own good, ya know.”

Night Glider rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess. She did find me, and… well, it’s really complicated. There was some, uh, brainwashing involved.”

“What?!” Dusty yelled, loud enough for most of the ponies in the tavern to turn towards him. “Brainwashin’? The hay did she do?”

“Like I said, it’s pretty complicated,” Night Glider said, as Dusty pushed the mug up in front of her. The smell of mango cider was unmistakable. “But she’s gone now! I’m back to my old self. We all are, really.”

“All?”

“Yeah, there were a bunch of ponies living together in one village,” Night Glider continued. “All of them under her control. But like I said, that’s all over with.”

“Well, shoot. I never woulda sent her yer way if I knew she was gonna do all that,” Dusty said, taking a long drink of cider and then patting Night Glider on the back. “I’m just glad to see yer doing alright for yerself. You were in an awful state a year ago.”

Night Glider looked down into her mug. “Yeah… I wasn’t really thinking straight. I probably should have just stayed with you until I figured things out.”

“Water under the bridge, Nighty,” Dusty said with a smile. “So, what brings you out to Palmacolta? Were you thinkin’ of moving here?” He lifted the mug up to his mouth for another drink.

“Nah, just stopping by, mostly to visit you,” Night Glider said. “I’m actually heading back to Modus.”

The mug stopped in front of Dusty’s mouth. He looked over the top of the cider mug, straight directly at Night Glider. His eyes narrowed and he slowly lowered the mug. There was an uncomfortable silence; Night Glider had never seen Dusty like that before.

“...Back to Modus?”

Night Glider nodded. “Yeah. It’s been a year, I feel like I’ve changed a lot, I think I’ll be able to convince the mayor or my parents to let me back in.”

Dusty took a long breath and set the mug down. He looked off into the distance at nothing in particular, contemplating something. Night Glider felt a chill run down her back as Dusty remained silent for a few more moments.

”Ah mean, I’m glad yer feeling confident enough to go back,” he said, his voice distant. “But are ya sure it’s gonna be that easy?”

“Well, it’s been awhile,” Night Glider said, her own voice wavering. “Maybe if they’ve seen how I’ve changed, I can prove that I belong there and that I won’t make any more mistakes, they’ll give me another chance. And then I’ll show them that what happened before will never, ever happen again!”

“Huh,” Dusty said. “Well... I’m glad you got yer confidence back, Night Glider. You were in a pretty awful state last time I saw ya.”

Night Glider awkwardly coughed. Dusty’s mood had changed so abruptly she was caught off guard, and wasn’t sure where to go next. “Uh, so, what’s going on in Palmacolta?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

Dusty took another sip of his cider, his eyes wandering. “Not a whole lot. Market season’s comin’ up, that’ should be good. Couple’a griffon bandits have been hitting the area, too, although we ain’t seen ‘em in a couple days. Not a whole lot else goin’ on.”

“Really?” Night Glider said. “Well, uh, that’s good at least. Hopefully you don’t see-”

“Nighty,” Dusty suddenly interrupted, “why are ya goin’ back to Modus?”

Night Glider went quiet. Dusty’s eyes were narrowed slightly as he looked at her.

“What?”

“Night Glider,” Dusty said, his voice calm but firm, “I jus’ think that there ain’t nothin’ there left for you.”

“Nothing left there?” Night Glider replied. “Dusty, it’s my home! I can’t just move on and let things end the way they did. There has to be more there for me. My story in Modus isn’t over.”

“But-”

“Like I said, Dusty, I’ve changed a lot,” she said. “I’m stronger!”

“It ain’t you bein’ stronger that I’m worried about, Nighty.” Dusty took a methodical sip of his cider, then put the mug down and looked right at her again. “Look, I don’t know how to put this.”

Night Glider gulped, afraid of what she was about to hear. “What?”

“Nighty, a lot of ponies in Modus… well, most of them just feel safer without you there.”

Night Glider’s body went numb. For a few seconds, the words echoed in her head. “S-safer?” she managed to sputter out.

“Yeah,” Dusty said. “I asked a lot of ponies about it whenever they visited, and a whole lotta them are just glad you’re not around anymore. They said having you around for so long was a liability, and while they’re not happy with how things went down, they do think it was in the best interest of Modus. I mean, obviously yer parents don’t exactly feel the same as the rest, and I certainly don’t agree with them, but them’s the facts.”

Night Glider blinked a few times, then looked down at her cider. It had been a year, but the memories of what had happened that day still felt fresh in her mind. Especially after saving Olive Branch from the quarry, the thoughts on that day still lingered in her head. And she could remember all the reactions from ponies in Modus in the minutes, hours, and day following, until she was kicked out.

She wasn’t surprised by the news. It was her utter lack of surprise that was concerning her. Suddenly, Modus felt further away than ever before, an impending doom that she was heading straight for, but had come too far to turn back.

“I… guess I should have seen that coming,” Night Glider said, feeling the energy drain from her body. 

“It ain’t about you, Nighty,” Dusty said. “It’s about them. They don’t know about where you’ve been for a year or how you’ve changed, and I got a feelin’ they just don’t care. I hate saying this, but I don’t think they’re ever gonna see anything about ya besides, well, besides what happened.”

Night Glider let out a long sigh. Her eyelids suddenly felt very, very heavy; all that was on her mind was what happened a year ago.

“I mean,” she muttered quietly, “It was my fault.”

Dusty shook his head. “Now you stop that.”

“But it was!” Night Glider said, her voice louder and quivering. “I… it was my fault those ponies got hurt. I was in charge.”

“Now look,” Dusty said,”it wasn’t you, it was a damn pride of manticores! I’ve been trading with Modus my whole damn life, and no hunter has ever told me about running into a single one o’ them beasts, let alone a whole buncha them.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I was the lookout. It was my responsibility. It was the first time any pony gave me responsibility in Modus, and I screwed it up.”

“Night Glider!”

“First hunt, and I couldn’t even keep an eye out for dangers,” Night Glider said, tears welling up in her eyes. “And after I begged them so long to let me come along…”

“That’s enough!” Dusty practically shouted. Night Glider looked up at him, seeing a determined look in Dusty’s eyes than she was used to. “I ain’t gonna let you sit here and pity yourself no more!” Night Glider sniffed and wiped her eyes as Dusty gently patted her shoulder. “Now you listen to me, Night Glider. I don’t care what anypony in Modus says or thinks, you’re a damn capable pony, and a friendly one at that. What happened was not your fault, it was a mistake and it could have happened to anypony in Modus.”

Night Glider slowly smiled. “T-thanks, Dusty.”

“I ain’t done,” Dusty said, adjusting his hat. “Now, I truly believe everything I just said. An’ you should, too. But Modus… well, I ain’t so sure if they’re gonna be as receptive. Like I said, most of ‘em still blame you.”

“I figured,” Night Glider replied. 

“And to be honest, I think it’s gonna take a hell of an effort for them to even give ya the time of day, let alone get back in,” Dusty said. 

Night Glider sighed. “I know.” There was silence as Night Glider waited for Dusty to continue, but when she looked up, he was staring at her, expectantly. “Dusty…”

Dusty reached over and took another long drink of cider. He slowly put the mug down.

“Night Glider, I can’t tell you how to live your life. If you think going back to Modus is something you need to do, I ain’t gonna stop you. But what I can do is tell you that if you’re expectin’ to just waltz back into Modus, it’s gonna take a lot more than you think. And even if they let you back in, I wouldn’t be so sure that they’re gonna let you stay very long.” 

“S-so…” Night Glider muttered. “So this was all a big mistake…”

“That ain’t what I said,” Dusty continued. “Look, Nighty. I can’t make this decision for you, but I know you, and you’re a stubborn one. I ain’t gonna be talkin’ you out of Modus any time soon.”

Night Glider looked up at Dusty. The old, wrinkled smile slowly returned to his face. She couldn’t help but smile back.

“Yeah,” she said. “‘I’ve already come this far, I’m barely a half-day away from Modus. I don’t know what’s gonna happen when I get there, but I can’t just turn back now, you know?”

Dusty chuckled. “Ya haven’t changed a bit, Night Glider. And I hope things go well for you in Modus. But if they don’t, I promise you can come back here if you got nowhere else to go.”

“Thanks,” Night Glider said. “But if everything goes how I want it to, the next time you’ll see me is during official Modus business.”

Dusty tipped his hat back. “We’ll see, Nighty. We’ll see.”

Night Glider opened her mouth to say something, but instead a long yawn came out. “Dusty, thanks for talking to me about this. But listen, I’m exhausted, I’ve been flying nonstop for a while and there was an, um, incident about an hour ago. Any chance-”

Dusty raised a hoof. “Say no more. Room’s upstairs if you need to crash.”

Night Glider slowly stood up and reached around the table, hugging Dusty. “Thanks so much for this, Dusty.”

“Not a problem, Nighty. You get yourself some sleep, we can talk more before you head out.”

Night Glider nodded and slowly made her way around the back of the tavern and up the stairs. As she climbed, the exhaustion really started to set in, and by the time she had gotten to the door, she was struggling to even keep her eyes open. Everything was catching up to her at once, and she quickly found the room and pushed the door open.

There were much nicer rooms at the tavern, but this was a much smaller, simpler room. Nothing but a bed in the corner, a few drawers, and a window on the eastern wall so ponies could look out at the landscape. She slid the saddle bag off her back and to the ground, then glanced over at the window.

It would take half a day for most pegasi to get from there to Modus. She knew she could shave a few hours off that time. Her heart began to pound just thinking about it all. She would finally be back. Finally be home. 

She squinted as the sun glared through the window, and she quickly closed the blinds before walking over to the bed and laying down. She almost immediately felt herself drifting away, the sound of ponies downstairs lulling her further towards the sleep she desperately needed.

As she faded, she thought of Modus. It wouldn't be long. She would get there and show them that she’s changed, that she can make up for the mistakes of the past. That she wasn’t different…

~~~~~~~~~~

Night Glider hopped up on the bench and looked out over the water. She had never seen a body of water that big before, the sea seemed to stretch out forever. She could hear every wave crashing into the shore and watched as ponies ran up and down the beach, playing in the sand.

“Pretty cool, ain’t it?” Dusty said, sitting down next to her.

“Yeah!” she excitedly replied. “There’s nothing like that in Modus! It’s just a big forest.”

“Well, tell ya what. Next time you get down to Palmacolta, I’ll take you out on the water.”

“Cool!” Night Glider said.

“We should probably head on back to the tavern, lil’ missy,” Dusty said. “Your parents are gonna be back any time, don’t want them to worry about you.”

Night Glider was still transfixed on the water. Dusty slowly stood up and put his hoof on her shoulder, trying to get her to stand up too.

“Dusty, do I have to go back?”

Dusty stopped, and Night Glider just stared straight ahead. He slowly sat back down.

“‘Course you do, Nighty,” he said. “It’s your home, after all.”

“Yeah, but…” Night Glider looked up at him. “But ponies there treat me weird.”

Dusty sat back down. “Weird?”

“They talk really quietly when I walk around,” she said. “They don’t like talking with me. They’re always staring at me wherever I go. I don’t like it very much. And nopony wants me to do anything. They tell me to just stay put, let the other ponies handle things.” She rested her head on her hooves. “I don’t like being different.”

Dusty rubbed his chin and looked out over the water. “Yeah, you and yer parents mentioned something like that earlier.”

“But I like it here!” Night Glider said. “There haven’t been any whispers, ponies have been smiling at me and treating me like everypony else!” She looked up at Dusty. “It’s probably because they don’t know me…”

“Don’t know you?”

“Yeah,” Night Glider sighed. “But I guess if I lived out here, ponies would start treating me like that eventually.”

“Now hold on there,” Dusty replied. “That might not be the right conclusion to jump to, little missy. I mean, who says you’re the problem?”

Night Glider blinked. “What?”

“Look at it this way: all the ponies in Modus treat you different. All the ponies outside of Modus don’t. Now, does that mean you’re the one who’s different—” Dusty leaned in, a wry smile on his face, “—or does that say more about Modus?”

“I… I dunno,” Night Glider said, tilting her head to one side. 

“Jus’ something to think about, Nighty,” Dusty said. 

Night Glider looked back out over the water. The sun was just starting to dip downwards, and she saw more ponies gather on the beach to admire it. 

“I don’t wanna be treated differently anymore,” Night Glider said. “I’m gonna show all the ponies in Modus that I’m not different! I’m just like them! Then everypony will treat me the same, right?”

Dusty nodded. “That’a girl, that’s the spirit! Now come on, your parents are probably waiting.”

Night Glider hopped off the bench and trotted up next to Dusty, heading back towards the tavern. She spared a quick glance backwards at the beach, ponies player or just sitting and enjoying each other's company. With a determined grin, she turned back and continued her march back towards the tavern.

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright, ready? Three, two, one, pull!”

With a burst of energy, the three ponies pulled on the ropes attached to the top of the wall. Foot by foot the wall raised off the ground, until it neatly pressed up against the open side of the town hall. The three ponies held the ropes tightly, sweat pouring down their faces as they could hear frantic hammering coming from the other side of the barn. After a few seconds, a voice rang out from the other side.

“Alright, we got the first nails in! You can let go!”

The three ponies released the ropes, each holding their breath for a few seconds as they watched the wall. When it didn’t collapse outward they exhaled a collective sigh of relief.

“Sheesh, I thought we’d never get that up,” Party Favor said, wiping sweat from his brow. “Hope it holds.”

“I think we should be fine, Arch knows what she’s doing,” Sugar Belle replied, then looked around the room and smiled in satisfaction. “This place is really coming together!”

“Yeah,” Party Favor said. “So I was thinking, what are we going to use this room for? Don’t think it’s gonna be big enough for any practical use.”

“I was thinking we could keep all the important documents once we get the town on the grid. Just somewhere to store everything that makes a town a town.”

“Like an actual name?”

Sugar Belle giggled. “Yeah, like an actual name.” She glanced across the room. “Hey Double Diamond, what do you think? Just store our important towney stuff in here?”

Double Diamond was vacantly staring out the window, off into the desert. Sugar Belle and Party Favor glanced at each other. 

“Uh, earth to Double Diamond?” Party Favor said, to no reaction. He rolled his eyes and trotted over, then tapped his friend on the shoulder. 

Double Diamond snapped to attention and turned to Party Favor. “Oh! Did you guys say something?”

“Come on, man,” Party Favor said. “You’ve been like this for days. Don’t you wanna talk to us?”

“Look, it’s just a tough topic.”

“Who, Night Glider?” Sugar Belle asked.

Double Diamond gasped. “Y-you knew?!”

Sugar Belle nodded. “I mean, it’s kinda obvious. You’ve been like this ever since she left.”

After a brief pause, Double Diamond cleared his throat awkwardly. “Yeah… I just really miss her, guys.” He sat down against the wall and glanced out the window again, as Party Favor and Sugar Belle joined him. “And I’m worried about her.”

“Worried?” Party Favor said. “Come on, you know Night Glider better than any of us, she can take care of herself just fine. Probably better than any of us could, actually.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Double DIamond said. “I’m worried about, well, what’s gonna happen when she gets back to Modus.”

“Yeah,” Party Favor said. “Who knows if they’re gonna let her back in. She was exiled, after all.”

“And if they don’t let her back in…” Double Diamond sighed again. “I just don’t want her to get hurt again.”

“Again?”

“It sounds like things went really sour at the end, before she first was exiled,” Double Diamond said. “And then she was living in a cave, she was miserable. I don’t want her to go through that again.”

“I know you’re concerned, but like I said, she can take care of herself better than we ever could,” Party Favor said. “All we can do right now is focus on getting the town up and running.”

There was a pause. Double Diamond stared out the window, then suddenly turned to look at Party Favor.

“Do you, like, just not care about Night Glider?”

“What?” Party Favor gasped. “Of course I do!”

“You don’t seem that worried about her to me!”

“And that means that I don’t care about her or miss her?” Party Favor said, his voice raising.

“You didn’t even lift a hoof to try to stop her!” Double Diamond shouted.

“Stop her?” Party Favor stepped forward. “Why would we stop her? This is what she wanted to do!”

Double Diamond leapt to his hooves. “Well what if she doesn’t know what she wants? What if Modus kicks her right back out and she’s back to being homeless?”

“You’re panicking yourself, Double Diamond,” Party Favor said. “Look, I know you’re really concerned about her, but I think she’ll be fine, no matter what happens in Modus. She’ll find somewhere else, and she’ll fit right in”

“You don’t know that!” Double Diamond yelled. “You heard her say it herself, she’s different!”

“But we’re not the ones she’s different from!”

“Stop it!!” Both ponies stopped as Sugar Belle stepped between them. “Both of you, stop arguing! Double Diamond, just because you’re upset doesn’t mean you should snap at your friends. Party Favor, don’t just start arguing too, you’ll make things worse!”

Double Diamond and Party Favor slowly looked back at each other. There was a brief pause before Double Diamond looked down at the ground.

“Look, I’m really sorry,” he said. “I...”

Party Favor reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “I know, man. You miss her, probably a lot more than the rest of us do.”

“Yeah,” Double Diamond said. “I just don’t want her to get hurt again, you know? When I first met her, she was absolutely miserable, and that was right after Modus. I don’t want that to happen to her again.”

“Well, unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do at this point,” Party Favor said. “All we can do is hope she knows what she’s doing. That things will work out when she gets back to Modus, you know?”

“But, like, what if they don’t?”

“Well, hopefully she’ll find somewhere else to go,” Party Favor said.

“Guys, I hate to say this,” Sugar Belle said, “but there’s nothing that we can do by just talking. We have to keep the town going.”

“Yeah,” Party Favor said. “You gonna be okay, Double Diamond?”

Double Diamond slowly nodded his head. “Yeah. Sorry. I’ll be right down, give me a minute.”

Party Favor and Sugar Belle smiled, then trotted off down the stairs. Double Diamond sighed and gazed out the window, off into the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~

Night Glider took a quick glance out the window as she finished packing up her saddle bag. She stretched out her limbs and threw the bag over her back, then turned to the door. She could hear the sounds of ponies talking downstairs, silverware clinking against plates, and the general din of a busy tavern.

She slowly opened the door, and was immediately hit with a strong smell. Roasted peppers, fried potatoes, a delectable blend of spices that immediately sent her stomach growling. She stepped down the stairs and surveyed the busy tavern, until she saw a hoof waving to her. She worked her way across the room to where Dusty was sitting at a table in the back, a plate of food in front of him.

“Little grub before you hit the road?” he said, pushing the plate towards Night Glider.

“Thanks, Dusty,” she said, sitting down and eating.

“No problem, Nighty,” he said. “I’m sorry if I was soundin’ a bit rude when we talked, I really didn’t mean to. I just want what’s best for ya.”

“Sure,” Night Glider replied. “I know you, Dusty. You’re just looking out for me. I appreciate it, but I’m ready to do this.”

“Well, that’s what’s important,” Dusty said. “So, got any other stops before you go?”

“Nope,” Night Glider said. “Straight shot to Modus. Normally takes eight hours to get there from Palmacolta.”

“And you and I both know you can make it in six. So, what are you gonna do when you get there?”

Night Glider took a drink of water. “They’re obviously not gonna just let me in, but I think that if I ask to talk to the mayor,” She slowly lowered the glass down. “Or maybe if I talk to the guards at the front of town, or ask for my parents,” She slowly looked up at Dusty.

“You don’t have a plan, do ya?” Dusty asked. Night Glider shook her head. “Yer a real sweet pony, Nighty, but you gotta think this stuff through first.”

Night Glider grinned sheepishly. “Like I said, this was kinda a snap decision.”

Dusty pushed his hat back up on his head. “Well, that’s gonna complicate things a bit. But yer a capable pony, I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah,” Night Glider stared down into her food. 

“Penny for yer thoughts?”

Night Glider sighed, and slowly looked up at her old friend.

“Dusty… I’m starting to have second thoughts.”

Dusty looked back at Night Glider, slowly removed his hat and set it down next to him, then rubbed his head.

“Somehow I knew you were gonna say something like that.”

“I’ve just been thinking about when we first spent a day together,” Night Glider said. “I remember telling you that I didn’t want to be different anymore. But that never happened, you know? No matter what I did, I was always different. Nothing ever changed.”

“Now that ain’t true, Nighty,” Dusty said. “You changed. You seem a heck of a lot more confident than the last time I saw ya. You come this far on a spur of the moment decision, yer bound to have some second thoughts.”

“Yeah…”

“But from everything you told me, this is something you need to do. If you were to turn back now, I have a feeling you’d regret it.”

“I would,” Night Glider said. “But yesterday, you said—”

“I know what I said, but I also know what you said,” Dusty. “And if you’ve come this far, and are this determined, I don’t see how turning back would solve anything. But like I said, you’ve changed. And I think you might just be able to get what you’re looking for in Modus if you play yer cards right.”

Night Glider smiled again. “Thanks for believing in me, Dusty.”

“Always have, Nighty. Always have,” Dusty put his hat back on and took a long drink of cider as Night Glider went back to her food. “I ain’t saying I approve of the trip, but at this point there ain’t no turnin’ back now. If you wanna show them that they screwed up for exiling you for not bein’ a good lookout, then that’s all there is to it, and yer gonna do it.”

There was a long pause as the words bounced around Night Glider’s head. She slowly looked back up at Dusty.

“Not being a good lookout?”

Dusty shook his head. “Shoot, I didn’t mean it like that, Nighty. You were new, and—”

Night Glider blinked. “Dusty… what did they tell you about what happened? About why I was exiled?”

“Nighty, do you really want to—”

“What did they tell you?!”

Dusty sighed. “They told me that you had been lookout on a hunt, and had missed a pack of manticores that attacked the rest of the group,” he said quietly. “They told me you had failed in your task as a lookout, and that was that. Seemed kinda odd to me, but…”

Night Glider slowly looked down at her food, trying to process what Dusty was saying. A lump had quickly formed in her throat and it felt like her hair was standing on end. The whole event was playing itself over and over in her mind on an endless loop, every scream, every panicked cry… she could practically feel the wind frantically blowing her mane back all over again.

“Dusty… there’s more to it than that,” she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“There is?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I thought they had told you. I told you, they had been looking for me to trip up for a while, but after what I did…”

“Nighty, no more bein’ cryptic,” Dusty said, his eyes narrowing as he leaned in. “I want you to tell me right now what the hay her talking about.”

Night Glider looked up at her old friend, nodded, and swallowed down the lump in her throat.

~~~~~~~~~~

The sounds of chaos were ringing in Night Glider’s ears. Her breathing was quick, her heart was pounding in her chest. Her mind was racing. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. 

The hunt had been going fine. The ponies had been doing their thing, and Night Glider had been doing hers. She had finally convinced Modus to let her hunt with them. After all the hushed whispers, the judging glances, the outright hostility from those in Modus who had seen her as an outsider, even from the moment she was born. 

And now, her mistake was staring her in the face. There was a war being waged directly below her. She hadn’t even seen the pride of manticores approaching the rest of the hunt until it was too late.

Blood. She could see blood. One of the ponies had pulled himself to the side, clutching at his stomach. The rest were still fighting, trying to get some kind of advantage over the angry beasts, to no avail. Their guard had been down; they had a pony to watch out for them, after all.

Night Glider was struggling to breathe. A million thoughts were racing through her head, and she didn’t know which one to listen to. In the back of her head, she heard the voice of the leader of the hunt, his lecture from earlier.

“If you want to be a part of this hunt, then you are going to contribute. No matter what happens, you help. If we fight, you fight. If we forage, you forage. Do you understand me?”

Night Glider desperately tried to swallow her anxiety, and she aimed herself down towards the melee. But before her wings could carry her down, more voices popped into her head, far louder. 

“She don’t belong in Modus. She never will.”

“We’re letting Night Glider on the hunt? Why?”

“We’re just letting you on this hunt to shut you up, you know.”

“Just stay up there and don’t do anything, let the ponies who actually know what they’re doing take care of things.”

“If it was up to me, we’d have gotten rid of you long ago.”

Tears were streaming down Night Glider’s eyes. Her wings were flapping just enough to keep her in place, but not move an inch in any direction. For just a moment, she could hear absolutely nothing, until finally a single thought rose to the forefront. 

“I’ll just screw things up more. I need to get help!”

And she turned, and she flew. She flapped her wings harder than she ever had in her life, straight towards Modus. Branches were slamming into her face, tearing across her wings, but she didn’t have the wherewithal to even fly upwards. All she could focus on was getting back to Modus, as quick as possible. She prayed to Luna that she could make it in time. No matter how far and fast she flew, Modus felt hundreds of miles away, as though the world was going in slow motion. 

Finally, she burst through a line of trees to see the familiar tall, wooden gates of her town. She flew over and made a dart for the ground, slamming into it with all four hooves before completely collapsing. Almost immediately there were ponies surrounding her, talking.

“Night Glider?!” she heard a familiar voice bellow. She glanced up to see the mayor pushing through the crowd of ponies. “Where is the rest of the hunt?”

“Th-there… there was…. M-manticores…” she stuttered through tears. “T-they attacked… they’re s-s-still out there…”

The mayor gasped. “And you RAN?”

“I-I-I c-couldn’t…”

The mayor ignored her and looked up. “We need every pony who’s able out there, now! Find them!”

There was all-out bedlam. Ponies were running through the gates, immediately taking off into the air towards the hunt. Night Glider, her energy still sapped, slowly pulled herself up to her hooves, barely able to step forward as ponies shoved by her in their rush. She looked back, and for just a brief second could see her parents, concern on their faces, looking towards her. But before she could even call out to them, she saw other ponies quickly corralling them out of town, taking off with the rest of them.

It barely took a minute for the streets of the small town to be almost completely empty. The sound of wings flapping gradually got more distant, with the only ponies that remained huddled together, trying to figure out what to do. Night Glider, finally able to move again, shakily trotted towards her house, stumbling in and up to her room.

She curled up on her bed and sobbed. She had been so close. Ponies finally wouldn't have treated her differently. But instead, everything went to hell. Her heart wouldn’t stop pounding. She didn’t know what was going to happen.

Hours later, she could hear commotion outside her window. he carefully peaked out her window to see ponies returning; they were all helping the ponies who had been hurt. She breathed a momentary sigh of relief when she saw that all the ponies on the hunt were accounted for, but as they got closer, her heart sank even further. They were covered in battle wounds: one had a long gash running along his chest that had been hastily bandaged up, another’s wing looked like it had been torn to pieces, and was barely hanging on to his body, and there were horrible claw and bite marks all over their faces and bodies. 

Night Glider could see ponies staring in the direction of her window. Glaring angrily. Muttering to each other. She saw her parents start to walk towards the house, but they were cut off when the Mayor landed right in front of them and began shouting.

Night Glider turned away from the window and buried her head in her pillow. No matter how hard she tried, she could hear the mayor. She could hear scattered words he was shouting at her parents: Worthless. Endangering. Belong. Decision. Tomorrow.

She pushed her head into the pillow. She wanted everything to go away.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dusty slowly took his hat off again. 

“I...I had no idea,” he said. “They jus’ told me that you had failed in your duties as a lookout,”

“Well, I did,” Night Glider said quietly, wiping a tear from her eye. “They didn’t exile me just because I was a bad lookout. They exiled me because I was a coward.”

“Now Nighty, don’t say that. I don’t blame you for headin’ off to get help, what could you have done?”

“Something. Anything,” Night Glider said. “It’s the job of every pony on a hunt to protect each other, and I couldn’t even get that right. After everything they said about me, they were right the whole time.”

“Nighty…”

“That’s why I have to do this, Dusty,” she said, straightening her back and looking right into Dusty’s eyes. “I need to prove to Modus that I’ve changed as a pony. That I’m not the same pony I was a year ago, when they got hurt. That I can, and will, be just like them.”

“Nighty, I know how tough it must be for ya, and I know this is something you need to do,” he said. “But you and I both know that no matter what you say, no matter what you do, you ain’t never gonna be like the ponies in Modus.”

Night Glider shifted her gaze away momentarily, but Dusty reached over and put his hoof on top of hers. She slowly looked back at him.

“Yeah… I know.”

“I’m glad you understand that, Nighty,” Dusty said. “But there’s something else you gotta understand then. Most ponies, they ain’t gonna blame you for what happened.”

“You think so?”

“I know so,” Dusty said with a smile. “I’ve lived long enough to know that ponies are a forgivin’ and understandin’ lot. They’d understand what happened, and that you did the only thing you could do. And even if they did blame you, I think that after a year, they’d be willing to give you a second shot.”

Night Glider started to smile, but the stern expression on Dusty’s face stopped her. He cleared his throat.

“That said…” he muttered, “ponies in Modus ain’t like most ponies. I ain’t so sure that they’ll be quick to forgive you. Way I see it, the wounds are still gonna be pretty fresh in everypony’s mind. So if you wanna get back in, even just to see somepony, you’re gonna have to work hard, prove to them that you deserve to even be heard out, let alone brought back to Modus permanently.”

Night Glider nodded. “I know, Dusty. It’s going to be rough. But it’s something I have to do. Like you said, I’ve come this far.”

“Exactly,” Dusty said, then smirked. “ ‘Sides, you’re one of the most stubborn ponies I’ve ever known. I figured there was no way to talk ya out of this.”

“Pretty much,” Night Glider said.

“I jus’ want you to take care of yourself, Nighty. Not get hurt again. Or at the very least, be prepared for what’s comin’. Because I guarantee you, there are gonna be ponies in Modus who just don’t want you there.”

“I know,” Night Glider said. She looked to her side. “Double Diamond said the same thing.”

“Double Diamond? Who’s that?”

“Oh, he’s a friend of mine,” Night Glider continued. “Back in the town I lived for a year.” Night Glider looked over at Dusty and paused; his head was tilted to one side. “What?”

Dusty shook his head. “Nah, it’s nothing. Jus’...” he trailed off and looked away for a moment. When he looked back at Night Glider, there was a warm smile on his face that made Night Glider smile out of pure instinct. “I jus’ never heard you talk about havin’ friends before.”

“Really? Never?”

“Not once,” he said. 

“Huh...” Night Glider looked down. For a moment, she thought back to town. She wondered what her friends were up to; probably just continuing to work on the town, setting up buildings, trying to finally connect it with the rest of Equestria. A part of her wondered if they missed her, but almost immediately, that thought was chased away. Of course they missed her! They were her friends.

But just as quickly as the thoughts had entered her head, they went away. She thought about the next step of her journey; the last step.

“Listen, Dusty,” she said, clearing her throat. “It’s been so great to see you, but I think it’s time I hit the road again.”

Dusty nodded. “And yer headed straight there, right?"

“Yeah," Night Glider said, getting to her hooves. “Can't think of anywhere else to go. Nothing between me and… and home.”

Dusty stood up too and wrapped his hooves around Night Glider. She returned the hug, nuzzling the side of her friend’s cheek.

“Dusty, thank you so much for everything,” she said.

“‘Course, my lil’ sweet saphire,” Dusty said. “And listen; no matter what happens in Modus, no matter what they say or what they do, I promise you you can come back here any time you want.”

“Really?” Night Glider said. 

“Of course! You should always have a place to call home, Nighty, no matter where it is.”

Night Glider paused and slowly pulled away from the hug. She looked into Dusty’s eyes, saw his beaming smile. There was a sincerity in his face that put her at ease.

“Thanks, Dusty,” Night Glider said. “But if things go well, I won’t need to find a new place.”

Dusty lead Night Glider out the front door of the tavern. She looked off into the starry sky.

“Well, nothin’ left for you here,” he said, patting her on the back. “Least not now, anyway. Don’t be a stranger!”

“Wouldn’t think of it!” Night Glider unfurled her wings.

“Hey, Nighty?” Dusty said. Night Glider turned around, and he gave her another grin. “Yer a lot stronger than you think you are, and don’t you dare let anypony try to tell you otherwise.”

Night Glider smiled. “I won’t. Thanks again, Dusty.”

With a wave goodbye, Night Glider turned and took off into the air. The feeling of the wind in her mane was exhilarating, and she immediately flapped even faster to speed over Palmacolta.

“Alright,” she said to herself, closing her eyes momentarily to just feel the world soar by her.

“Next stop, Modus.”
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Glider hovered in the air, staring down at the lush forest beneath her. Her heart was beating ever so slightly faster as she looked at the layout of the green below. She could see fruit hanging from scattered trees, many of them having already been picked clean. The ground was well-trotted, and she could see the missing leaves from the trees that had been flown by so many times. Even the sound that reverberated off the trees was familiar to her.

There was no doubt in her mind: she was close to Modus. Close to home.

Her wings felt very heavy as she slowly lowered herself to the ground and looked around. She could hear every rustle of leaves, every far-away bird call, every noise. She tried to remember exactly which direction she needed to go.

She slowly closed her eyes and took her locket in her hoof, then gently shook it. She could hear the jingles reverberating around her.

50 paces southwest, small creek running through the forest, flowing south. There are waterfalls at the head of it, but they’re very far away. 23 paces east, a few frogs hiding under an old stump.

She held her breath and shut her eyes as tightly as she could, concentrating on trying to hear something that would be more useful to her. Nothing but the sounds of the forest enveloped her. She held the locket tightly in her hoof, not letting it make any noise, but still, nothing. She scolded herself for forgetting the exact location of Modus in this forest, but suddenly, another noise entered her hearing, just barely above silence.

A voice. Multiple voices.
 
Her eyes snapped open. It was just for a moment, but she could hear voices. They were a few minutes walk straight north of where she was. She felt a pit in her stomach, but she ignored it as best she could and began walking. A voice in the back of her head was telling her to fly, but she ignored it. She needed the time to prepare.

As she walked, she was left with her thoughts. She had been traveling for days just to get here, yet it felt so surprising to her. To actually be back at Modus. To be only minutes away from staring down her home once again. To be able to finally confront the past.

The more she walked, the slower her pace became. The voices were growing louder; she was very close. But all she could think about was what Dusty had told her: that the ponies in Modus weren’t quick to forgive. She hated to admit it, but deep down, a part of her hadn’t been surprised in the least.

“No!” she hissed to herself, shaking the thought out of her head. “I’ve come this far. There’s no turning back now; I have to get into Modus. I’m going to get in.”

She gulped down a lump in her throat as she stared at a dense line of trees in front of her. It was the first landmark in the area that she was familiar with, and she realized what was just beyond it. She took a deep breath and pushed through the trees; as she emerged from the other side, her blood ran cold.

In front of her stood the towering wooden wall that surrounded her home.

It towered above her, reaching just below the treeline. Bushes lined the top of it, making the town blend into the forest around it. Most ponies were only aware of the general location of the town; even Pegasi had a hard time locating it.

Night Glider’s legs were shaking. She took a long, deep breath and exhaled slowly. She had to calm herself down as she began the long walk around the edge. Modus wasn’t a particularly large town, but time seemed to stand still with each step. She could hear ponies inside, and every few seconds, she could see somepony fly up overhead, on their way in or out of Modus. It seemed busy, but then, it always was.

She turned the corner and stopped. Ahead of her were two ponies standing guard at the gates to the town. They were engaged in conversation, but still keeping an eye out above them. Night Glider took a long breath again and closed her eyes.

“This is it,” she thought to herself, cracking her neck. “Home.”

As she opened her eyes, she looked up. Flying over the gates was the grand flag of Modus. It depicted a full moon high in the sky, a single dark wing in front of it…

Night Glider’s train of thought stopped as she narrowed her eyes at the flag. She took a few steps to the side to look behind it, but there was nothing. The two flags of Modus were almost sacred to the town, always flying proudly at the entrance. But there was now only one flying in its mast, the other conspicuously absent.

As she pondered why it was gone, her gaze slowly returned downward, and her thoughts stopped dead in their tracks. The two guards were now staring directly at her, their eyes narrowed. For a few seconds their sight didn’t wander, until they turned and stood at attention in front of the gate. She took one more deep breath and trotted forward again. In a few seconds, she was in front of the two guards, who briefly glanced at each other before looking over at her. 

Night Glider had had days to go over in her head what she would say when she returned to Modus. But now, standing in front of the gates and with the piercing eyes of the guards, the words wouldn’t come.

Seconds ticked by. Night Glider could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She tried opening her mouth again, but could barely make out a whisper. She instinctively grasped at the locket around her neck, jingling it. Part of her was screaming to just give up and fly back into the forest. 

But before her wings could react, a different thought entered her mind.

“I guess you gotta go for it.”

“I mean, we’re sure as heck gonna miss you, but if you think you belong back in Modus, we’re not gonna stop you.”

“It’s your decision, and as your friends, we’ll always support it!”

Night Glider opened her eyes and exhaled sharply. If her friends believed in her, she knew she could too. She looked directly at the guards.

“H-hey,” she stammered, immediately cursing her casual tone.
 
One of the guards nodded. “Hello,” he said coldly.

“Um,” Night Glider said, trying to shake the unease out of her voice, “It’s been a while.”

“Yes,” the guard said. “It has.”

“It, uh, looks like—”

“Night Glider,” the guard interrupted, “What do you want?”

Her face went numb. She shook her head again, throwing all the pleasantries out the window, then looked directly at the guard.

“I want to speak with someone in Modus.”

“Someone?”

“My parents,” Night Glider said. “Or the mayor.”

The two guards looked at each other. Night Glider waited for any sort of response as the two guards glanced at each other for a moment. One guard slowly shook his head, and the other nodded in agreement.

“Completely out of the question,” the guard said.

In the back of her head, it was exactly the response Night Glider was expecting. But she couldn’t help but step back in shock.

“W-what?”

“Night Glider, you were exiled from Modus,” he continued. “After what you did, after you failed in your duties as a lookout, after the mayor kicked you outthere is absolutely no reason for us to allow you to simply walk back into the town.”

“Well then I’ll talk to them out here!” Night Glider said. “I won’t set hoof into Modus.”

The guard shook his head. “I see no reason to get them. Modus is done with you, Night Glider. And whether you are willing to accept it or not, you are done with Modus.”

Night Glider stamped her hoof into the ground and gritted her teeth. “It’s been a year! I haven’t tried to contact you guys once!”

“And that is appreciated,” the guard continued. “But exile simply does not go away after a set period of time. So as we stated, there is no intention to let you back in.”

“In fact,” the other guard said, looking over and nodding, “ I think it would be best if you left.”

“But—”

“Modus wants nothing more to do with you,” he said, interrupting Night Glider. “Therefore, there is no reason to be here anymore.”

Night Glider slunk back. The bluntness in their voices and the sternness on their faces was giving her chills. Neither one had budged an inch from their positions since they had seen her, and their glare was telling her that there was nothing she could do to convince them otherwise.

She took another step back, ready to turn around, but her sight wandered upward to the flag waving on the left side of the gate, then to the right side.

“What happened to the other flag?” she said.

“That is official Modus business,” the guard said. “It is of no concern to you. Now leave.”

Night Glider unfurled her wings and slowly lifted herself off the ground. She took a long look at the gates of Modus, then down to the two unflinching guards in front of it. With a shake of her head, she turned and flew off quietly into the forest.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!!!”

Night Glider drove her hoof into the side of the tree, causing the whole thing to shake and leaves to fall down on her. She punched the tree over and over, letting out her frustration.

“I was right there,” she seethed. “It was right in front of me! And I just had to talk to those damn guards!” She slunk back against the tree and stared upwards at the canopy. “I should have just flown over. Rules be damned, I’m not a part of Modus anymore, why should their rules apply?”

She grabbed her locket in her hoof and shook her head. After all the time to prepare, the days of flying with nothing to do but think about a way to get back into Modus, and her mind had gone totally blank, and the tone the guards immediately took had stopped any attempts of her to take control of the conversation.

She popped the locket open and looked at her parents inside. She had been so close, and now it felt like she was farther than ever. She could always sneak in to Modus, but with so many ponies in the town, somepony would surely see her before she got to her parents house. There was absolutely no sneaking in under the cover of night, that was when the ponies in Modus were most active. She knew that the only way of getting in would be right through the front gates… but the odds of that happening were slim.

Night Glider bucked the tree in frustration, then started trotting aimlessly in one direction and trying to calm herself down. 

“This is just a setback,” she muttered under her breath. “Just round one. I can’t give up now. I’m just gonna have to be more strategic. I’m sure that if I just talk to them again…”

“So if you wanna get back in, even just to see somepony, you’re gonna have to work hard, prove to them that you deserve to even be heard out, let alone brought back to Modus permanently.”

She stopped walking and looked down at the ground. Dusty was right; it was never just going to be as easy as walking up and being let back into Modus immediately. It was going to take more than words to get anywhere.

She sat down against a tree and closed her eyes. Despite how quickly she had been turned away, she knew that if she played her cards right, if she found a weakness, she would be able to get what she wanted. It was just a matter of what that weakness was.

The only sounds she could hear is the gentle rustling of leaves and the rushing of water coming from the source of the nearby river. It would take time, but there had to be something she could do.

“I should just wait until they change guards and go back,” she thought to herself, briefly opening one eye to check where the sun was in the sky. “Probably won’t be until tomorrow, though. If I go back and talk to them calmly…” She sighed. “No, that’s not gonna be any different. I could watch for when the mayor or my parents leave town and track them…” She shook her head. “No, they definitely wouldn’t want to be ambushed like that…” She pressed her hoof into the side of the tree. “Gah, why is this so damn complicated?” she seethed.

Just as she was withdrawing her hoof, the serenity of her surroundings was interrupted by a shout from far away.

“We can’t just go back to Palmacolta, you moron!”

Night Glider looked around; the voice was distant, but loud enough for her to quickly pinpoint the direction it was coming from. She could just barely make out more voices, each one raised as if there was an intense argument happening.

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her predicament. “Nope, don’t want any part of that,” she muttered under her breath. “I have my own problems to worry about.” 

“There’s only one place that’ll be interested in this stuff, Gillian. Let’s just go!” a second voice said.

“Shut up, both of you!” a third rang, slightly quieter than the other two. “Quiet, dammit, I’m sure they’re still looking for us!”

Night Glider turned her head to the direction the voices were coming from. They quieted down a bit, but she could still make out an impassioned argument happening some distance away.

“Dammit…” she said as she climbed back to her hooves and started trotting towards the source of the sound. The argument, despite growing quieter, seemed to also be getting more intense, as the three voices went back and forth in hushed tones about something. As she walked, the sounds of rushing water also filled her ears. With that added sound, she could make out three figures standing near the source of the river. All three were larger than her—larger than most ponies she had ever encountered, in fact.

“Why am I doing this,” she said as she stopped in her tracks. “I have more important things to worry about. Let them argue.”

She turned around and started walking away, blocking their conversation out of her mind, when  a single word caught her attention.

“Flag”

Night Glider froze in her tracks. She was still for a few seconds before she took off into the air and landed on the branch of the closest tree. She carefully made her way from branch to branch towards the argument, before she finally reached a branch that extended out into the clearing and peered in.

A small but active waterfall was rushing down the side of a cliff, into the river. At the base, three griffons were standing, still engaged in their argument. In the middle of them was a crumpled heap of dark cloth.

She stifled a gasp, holding her hoof to her mouth so she wouldn’t be heard. Down below, the three continued arguing, utterly oblivious to the pony above them.

“Geoff, we can’t just go back to Palmacolta with this thing,” one of the griffons said. “They’ll know what it is.”

“Well so will everywhere else then!” Geoff replied. “Let’s junk it. I don’t even know why we took this damn thing in the first place.”

“Because it’s gotta be worth something, somewhere!” the first said. “And that somewhere has gotta be Las Pegasus. Let’s go back and talk to Shady Skies, he can—”

“Gillian, Shady won’t be able to make heads or tails of how much this thing is worth,” the third said as he poked at the crumpled flag. “It’s just a flag.”

Night Glider’s teeth ground together. “Dusty mentioned something about griffon bandits…” she thought to herself.

“Do you know what I had to do to distract those guards for you guys?” Gillian said. “We’re not gonna get rid of it.”

“But I don’t wanna go all the way back to Las Pegasus just to find out it’s not worth a damn thing,” 

“Gerard, it’s the only thing we can do,” Gillian said. “This was a stupid idea, but we gotta roll with it. Let’s pack it up and head out, we can be in Las Pegasus in a day or two, and get an idea of how much we can get for it. And if it’s not worth anything, we can junk it there.”

“Fine,” Gerard grumbled.

As one of the griffons started to open up a bag on his back, Night Glider’s heart started pounding. She stared at the flag for a second, when something clicked in her head.

My way in.

She bolted from the branch and sped towards the flag, her hooves reaching out for it. The griffons looked up as she came barreling towards them.

“Whoah, whoah!” Gerard screamed, as he grabbed the flag and pulled it out of the way.

Night Glider flipped around and landed on her hooves, staring down the three griffons. 

“You stole that from Modus!” she said, leaning down and grinding her hoof into the ground. “I’m here to take it back.”

The three griffons looked at each other, then back at their new adversary.

“You?” Gerard said. “What, did Modus hire you or something?”

“I’m from Modus,” she growled.

“I didn’t know they had ponies like you there,” he replied. “Normal ones, anyway. And in case you haven’t noticed, missy… there are three of us, and one of you.”

The other two griffons stepped forward, and Night Glider could feel her legs shaking, suddenly feeling very in over her head. She eased her stance and took a step back.

“Now if you think we’re just gonna give this back to some brave-girl act, good luck,” Gerard said. “Get out of here before we—”

“Hang on!” Gillian interrupted, then pointed at Night Glider. “What’s that?”

Night Glider looked down at what Gillian was pointing at: the silver locket hanging around her neck.

“M-My locket?”

She looked up to suddenly find Gillian stepping closer to her. She took another step back, and felt her flank press up against the rocky cliff behind her. Her wings seemed locked in place as Gillian loomed forward.

“Well, looks like we won’t have to write this thing off as a total loss,” Gillian said, reaching down and taking the locket in his claw. “Oooh, real silver, too. That’s nice.”

“No!” Night Glider yelled, pulling back.

Gerard and Geoff snickered as Gillian yanked on the necklace, making Night Glider almost fall to the ground. “Tell you what. You give us this locket, and we’ll just head out in our own direction like this never happened.”

Night Glider tried to dodge to the side, but Gerard grasped her mane with his claw.

“I don’t think you understand here, little girl,” he said as he leaned in. “This is not optional. Now hand it over!”

He balled his claw into a fist and pulled on the locket, straining the chain and digging into Night Glider’s neck. Her muzzle pressed into his shoulder, and she struggled to take a breath. She pressed her hooves into his chest and tried to push away, only succeeding in getting a few inches away. 

“Let go of it!!” Gerard screamed as he used his free claw to reach and grab Night Glider by the mane. 

Night Glider’s heart was racing as she struggled. Her mind was a garbled mess of thoughts, unable to focus on anything. She desperately pushed backwards to try to escape, but Gerard’s grip just tightened. Her eyes darted towards the flag that was laying on the ground, but another yank from Gerard sent her sight skyward. For a brief second, the corners of her eyesight started to blacken.

For a split second, something flashed before her eyes. She could see Party Favor tying an unbelievable number of balloons together to form a bridge. Sugar Belle throwing snow at Starlight Glimmer to knock her off course. Double Diamond skiing across the snow to stop her in her tracks.

And for a moment, she could see herself. Carrying Double Diamond into position. Putting the bridge into place. The four of them hugging after they had run Starlight off.

She snapped back to reality and saw red.

She reared her head back, then pitched forward and drove her teeth down into Gerard’s shoulder.

Gerard screeched in pain and immediately released his grip. Night Glider didn’t; she bit harder.

“Aaaaaaaaagh!” Gerard screamed, as behind him Gillian and Geoff stood frozen in fear. “GetheroffgetheroffgetheroffGETHEROFF!!!”

He tried to flail back and forth, but Night Glider just bit harder. She felt something give, and a metallic taste coated her tongue. She didn’t care; she bit down again.

“Help me dammit!!” Gerard screamed again. Finally, Gillian and Geoff snapped to attention and rushed over, managing to pry Gerard off. They all fell back, Gerard clutching at his shoulder as a few drops of blood trickled down between his claws.

Night Glider stepped to the side, putting her back away from the wall, and spit blood out onto the ground. She flashed her teeth at the bandits, who were staring at her in a panic.

“Can’t let you take this. It means a lot to me.” She took a step forward, and all three griffons stepped back. She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, I see how it is. You can dish it out but can’t take it?” She wiped the blood from her muzzle. “I wouldn’t mind round two…”

“Get away from us!” Gillian said, stumbling back and nearly tripping over his cohorts. He took off into the air. “We’re leaving, now.”

“What about the flag?” Geoff said, tying a piece of cloth around Gerard’s neck.

“Forget the damn flag!” Gerard screamed as he took off into the air too. “She’s crazy!”

Night Glider watched as the three griffons took off into the air out of the canopy of the forest, then carefully listened. She could hear their panicked arguing slowly fade as their wing flaps became more and more distant, until they were so far away that she couldn’t hear them at all. She immediately rushed over to the waterfall and opened her mouth.

“Gross gross gross gross gross gross gross gross,” she sputtered as she frantically washed every trace of blood out of her mouth in the rushing water. The metallic taste quickly went away, and she stepped out of the waterfall, her mane completely soaked. She took a look around at the clearing; there were drops of blood dotting the rocks in front of the cliff, and one larger patch from where she had spit. And a few feet away…

She practically dove on the flag and unfurled it. Other than a few wrinkles from how ineptly it had been handled, it was in fine condition.

Night Glider started to laugh. She clutched the flag close to her chest and fell back, continuing to laugh as tears started rolling down her face. 

She had it. 

Her way back in.

~~~~~~~~~~

Night Glider pushed through the bushes and found herself face-to-face with the gates of Modus once again. As soon as the two guards heard her they snapped to attention and looked her way, before scowls crossed their face.

“Night Glider,” the first guard said, “I already told you several hours ago that we are not interested in—”  His train of thought stopped when Night Glider held up the flag. “Wh-where did you get that?!”

“I found a group of griffons in the forest,” Night Glider said. “From the sounds of it, they were able to distract whoever was on duty and nab this in the confusion. They were planning on taking it to Las Pegasus to get it appraised.”

The guards glanced at each other, then back at the flag.

“Well,” the first guard said, awkwardly clearing his throat, “I, um… I do appreciate you returning it to us. It is as you said, it had been stolen a day ago. We have been preparing a group to go hunting for it, but this will save us time.”

He reached out for it, but Night Glider pulled her hoof back. 

“If you don’t mind,” she said, unable to hide a smirk, “I would like to give this to the mayor directly.”

“You are not allowed back into Modus.”

“Then have him come out here!” Night Glider yelled. “He has a reason to meet with me now, doesn’t he?”

There was a long pause. The first guard slowly shifted his gaze from the flag to the other guard, then silently nodded his head. He took off into the air and flew over the top of the gates.

Night Glider was left alone with the other guard, who stood completely stoic. She sat down on the grass and just waited. As minutes ticked by, beads of sweat began to drip down her face.

“What if he still doesn’t let me in?” she thought, looking down at the flag. “He always hated me, and I doubt thing have changed. But this is my best shot for getting in, it’s this or nothing.” She looked up at the guard; he briefly locked eyes with her, then went back to staring silently ahead. “If one of the guards doesn’t want anything to do with me…”

Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard the sound of wood grinding against wood. Slowly, the gates to Modus opened. 

For a moment, Night Glider’s heart leapt into her throat. The town was identical to how she remembered it; small cottages stacked on top of each other lining the streets, ana massive tree in the middle with branches that extended out in every direction, shrouding much of Mouds in shadows no matter what time of day it was.

She looked forward to see the guard approaching her, followed closely by the mayor. There was a certain air of regality to him as he strode towards her, despite the way that his eyes narrowed the moment he saw Night Glider. He trotted forward and looked down his nose at her, then at the flag.

“Let me see it,” he said, his voice cold as steel. Night Glider slowly handed it to him, and he unfurled it to look it over. There were a tense few seconds before he slowly folded it up and handed it to the guard. “Bring this to be cleaned. Have it flying as soon as possible.”

As the guard flew away, the mayor turned his attention back to Night Glider. She didn’t say anything, waiting for him to make the first move. 

“I suppose that some gratitude is in order for you returning the flag,” he said, looking away. “So, I thank you. But that is where my obligations to you end, Night Glider. You may leave now.”

With that, the mayor turned away. Night Glider stood, her jaw slightly agape, searching for words that weren’t coming as he strode back towards Modus.

“No!” she thought, trying to form words. “That can’t be it! This is my…”

The mayor signalled for the gates to be closed again.

“I want to see my parents!” Night Glider finally shouted.

There was silence. The mayor turned to look at her, his eyes again narrowing. He trotted back towards her.

“Excuse me?” he asked incredulously.

“You heard me,” she replied. “I want to see my parents. It’s been a year since I have seen them, and—”

“There is a reason for that, Night Glider,” the mayor said. “You were exiled.”

“For a single mistake!” Night Gilder quickly replied. “And you know what? I’ve stayed away! I’ve waited a full year to come back and even attempt to contact anybody from Modus. I even stayed away from a friend who had contacts in town!”

“Exile is a very serious matter, and we intend to keep it that way,” the mayor said. “All that has happened is you did what we told you. If you’re expecting that we will simply welcome you back…”

“I’m not looking for some sort of grand parade welcoming me back!” Night Glider shouted. She could see a few ponies now watching her from inside Modus, and she tried to ignore their glares. “I don’t expect everyone to just forget what happened. All I’m asking is for a chance to speak to my parents, in my home. I barely had enough time to talk to them when I was exiled. I know you don’t like me—I know most of Modus doesn’t like me—but after bringing the flag back, I think that at the very least, a meeting with my mom and dad isn’t a whole lot to ask for!”

The mayor remained silent as he and Night Glider locked eyes. He took a long breath, then looked up at the empty flag mast above them. Night Glider waited, unable to take a breath, as time stood still for a moment. Finally, the mayor let out a long sigh.

“Sunfall,” he quietly said.

“Excuse me?”

“You did return our flag, and I suppose that is worth something. Come back at sunfall. I will allow you to come in and speak with your parents.”

Night Glider’s heart skipped a beat. “Y-You—”

“You will have thirty minutes, and not a second more,” he continued. “When you arrive, there will be guards who will escort you from these gates to your former home, and when you leave, they will escort you back. You are not allowed to fly, nor stray from the path.”

In the back of her mind, something was frantically telling her to just accept it. But the tone the mayor took, the look in his eyes, the rules he had implemented… something seemed to snap in her head.

“What?!” she yelled. “I don’t want to be treated like a criminal!”

“Well that is exactly what we are going to have to do for this deal to work,” he said. “And that is the only deal we will make. We will see you again at sunfall, but for now, I ask that you vacate the area.” The mayor turned around to leave.

“I can’t just go in and talk to them?” Night Glider said. “You don’t trust me enough to—”

“Trust?!” The mayor spun around, anger burning in his eyes. “You were always an anomaly in Modus from the moment you were born. You are the direct cause of a group of ponies getting hurt, some of them nearly killed. We exiled you, we never attempted to contact you, we wanting nothing more to do with you. You want to talk about trust? I assure you, you are correct; we do not trust you.”

The mayor leaned in, pressing his nose into Night Gliders and staring a hole through her.

“I don’t know how much clearer I can make it that we do not want you here.”

Night Glider felt energy drain from her body, and she began to shake as the mayor’s stare didn’t waver.

“Thirty minutes at sunfall,” he repeated. “Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it,” she quietly said. 

“Good,” he replied as he turned around and marched back into the town. “Be here at sunfall, because your thirty minutes begin then, whether you are here or not.”

The great gates slowly closed, and there was silence. Night Glider didn’t move for a minute, processing everything that had just happened. Finally she turned and walked back towards the forest. She glanced upwards at the sun hanging high in the sky.

“Sunfall,” she muttered to herself. “They’ll let me in at sunfall.”

She looked straight ahead.

“I’m going… I’m going back to Modus...”


> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything was eerily quiet.

Night Glider took in the forest; there was no wind, no bugs, not any sound to be heard. It left her in a bubble that she wasn’t used to, one where all she knew about was what she could see.

A full moon was hanging high in the sky, but there were no stars. She looked back towards the mighty gates of Modus in front of her, which had remained shut even after the sun had gone down.

“He said sunfall,” she thought to herself. “It’s long past…”

As if on cue, a deafening roar came from the gates as they swung open. Night Glider stepped back as they passed by her, creating a massive rush of wind that nearly blew her to the ground. She steadied herself as best she could as the gates came to a halt, and she could see figures approaching. 

The mayor, flanked by two guards at each side, walked over to her. His eyes were turned down in an angry glare as he looked down his nose at her as the guards continued to walk forward.

“Night Glider,” he said, his every word hanging coldly in the air. “Follow me. Do not stray.”

He turned around and walked with purpose back through the gates, as the four guards immediately closed in around Night Glider. She felt a jab in her back as one of them shoved her forward. She turned back to glare at him, but her body went numb when she saw the look he was giving her.

His face was contorted inwards, his eyes piercing through the darkness as he stared directly at her. There seemed to be an unearthly glow coming from his eyes as he again shoved her.

“Move!” he barked.

Night Glider’s hooves were shaking as she kept pace with the guards. As they moved towards the gate, Night Glider could more easily make out all the ponies who awaited her. Their expressions matched the one the guard had, to an unsettling degree., and they all turned into a menacing sneer as she made her first step into town.

Almost immediately, her hearing was bombarded by shouts from every direction.

“This is a disgrace!”

“She was exiled, and she should stay that way!”

“How could you let that failure back in?!”

Night Glider’s head lowered to the ground as the shouts only got louder, her every step punctuated by more yells from every direction. She instinctively reached for her locket, but her hoof came up empty. She immediately stopped in her tracks and frantically looked around for it, but the guard behind her stepped forward and gave her a rough shove.

She pitched forward, losing her balance and falling to the right. Almost immediately, the guards grabbed her by the legs and yanked her to her feet. She looked up to find herself staring at the mayor, whose face was shaking with rage.

“I told you not to stray!” the mayor seethed.

“I was pushed!” 

“I don’t care!” he yelled, yanking her forcefully up to her hooves. “Get moving!”

The guards pushed her again, forcing her down the path, as the shouts from every side had grown even louder. She frantically scanned the area as best she could for her locket, but barely had enough time to look around before she was practically dragged away.

Modus had never seemed so big, so imposing to her. The trees stretched out infinitely into the sky, covering up most of the moon and leaving so much of the town completely shrouded in darkness, except for the many ponies who lined the streets, staring a hole in her. 

She felt small. Very, very small.

She looked forward and found herself at the front door to her old home. It almost was bending forward, looming over her and darkening her surroundings even more. 

“Well?” the mayor snapped at her.

Her hoof wouldn’t move. No matter how hard she tried, how much her brain screamed at her muscles, she was completely stuck in place.

“You had best hurry up,” the mayor snarled. 

She closed her eyes and struggled, barely getting her hoof high enough to knock the door. The sound resonated through the whole town, ringing in her ears.

There was quiet as the seconds ticked by. Night Glider could feel the sweat pouring down her face. From inside, she could hear hoofsteps growing louder, until the door swung open.

Night Glider instinctively took a step back. Her parents’ expressions matched those of the rest of the ponies around her; cold anger. They looked down at her.

“What do you want?” her dad muttered.

“Guys,” Night Glider stammered, “T… they let me back into town!”

“We can see that,” her mom said quietly. “Why?”

“Why…” Night Glider took a step back. “Why?? I-I’m your daughter!”

“By blood, yes,” her mom continued. “But you already showed us that you have no use to Modus. So you have no use to us, either.”

Night Glider’s legs wobbled, her vision blurred, and she nearly collapsed backwards. She stared at her parents, unable to speak as they glared down at her with the same expression on their face that the rest of Modus had.

“B-but…” she stammered.

“You should leave,” her father said. “There’s nothing for you here.”

With that, he reached out and grabbed the door. Before Night Glider had a chance to react, he slammed it in her face, sending Night Glider tumbling back and falling to the ground. She laid in silence, feeling tears rolling down the sides of her face as she stared at the sky.

“As I thought,” the mayor said. “Your parents want nothing to do with you. Nopony does.”

“F-fine,” Night Glider said, rolling over and trying to push herself to her hooves. “I’ll… I’ll leave.”

“Leave? Who said anything about letting you leave?”

She looked up to find the mayor standing over her. All around them, ponies had formed an ever-tightening circle, all of them focused on Night Glider. Her heart felt as though it could pound through her chest.

“What?” Night Glider said, her sight darting back and forth at the ponies closing in on her.

“We don’t want you. Your parents don’t want you. Nobody wants you, Night Glider,” the mayor said. “You have no worth to anypony. So we will ensure that you don’t ruin anypony else’s lives.”

The ponies around her took a step closer, their yells quickly drowning out everything else. Night Glider instinctively stepped back, only to bump into the ponies behind her. One of them swiped a long black wing at her, and she leapt forward into the center. She unfurled her wings, but suddenly she couldn’t move. She looked down and her body went numb; the ground had grown around her, trapping her back hooves in place. She flapped her wings and kicked her front hooves, but she only sank further.

She looked up and lost her breath as the ponies closed in. What little light there was in Modus seemed to be going out, shrouding the figures in near pitch-black, yet no matter how loud their yells were, she couldn’t sense where they were.

“Please, stop!” she screamed. “I-I’ll leave, I’ll leave!”

“You had your chance!” the mayor screamed right back, his voice deep and booming. “You made your choice, now live with it!”

The ponies were only inches away. Night Glider collapsed to the ground, sobbing as she put her hooves over her head, awaiting the inevitable.

And suddenly, everything stopped.

Night Glider waited, but there was no movement, no more angry cries, no more sound at all. She lifted her shaking head off the ground and gasped at what she saw.

Around her, everything had frozen: the rustling of the trees, the howl of the wind, and even the movement of the ponies that had surrounded her. But they weren’t ponies anymore. There were a dark, amorphous mass, completely surrounding her, glowing red eyes staring at her from every direction. 

She could feel the ground loosening up around her hooves, and she stood. She reached out towards the blob, and it shuddered and wrapped around her hoof, returning to its former state as soon as she pulled it away.

“W… what…” Night Glider muttered just above a whisper.

“My apologies for letting this go on for so long,” a voice came from above. 

Night Glider looked upwards. The canopy of Modus was gone, leaving the shimmering full moon hanging high in the sky. She watched in amazement as the moon flashed brightly, and a figure slowly shimmered into existence. She unfurled her wings and descended, the black blob bending away from her as she landed.

“Hello, Night Glider,” the alicorn said.

“You’re Princess Luna…” Night Glider said. As Luna nodded, Night Glider immediately crouched down into a deep bow to the princess.

“I thank you for the sentiment,” Luna said, “but I assure you that isn’t necessary.”

As Night Glider stood back up, she could see the massive black and red blob that surrounded them undulating and closing in once again.

“Wh… what did you do to them?!” Night Glider stammered, her eyes nervously scanning around her.

“I merely stopped it from going any further,” Luna replied. “Dreams oftentimes have a way of spiraling out of control.”

“Dreams?” Night Glider looked around again. “This is a dream?”

“Yes. Well, far more of a nightmare, to be honest,” Luna said. She closed her eyes and gave her wings a powerful flap, and the world around her began to fade away. 

Night Glider looked down as the ground beneath her hooves faded. She found herself standing on nothing, staring off into an endless sea of shining stars. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then looked up at Princess Luna.

“I must have dozed off while waiting for sunfall,” she said. “Princess, thank you for saving me.”

Luna nodded. “Of course. As princess of the night, is my duty to assist when ponies find themselves in nightmares as intense as yours. I am happy I could, at the very least, end it before it went any further.”

“Well, at least things won’t go that bad,” Night Glider said, chuckling as she surveyed the starscape around them. “Compared to that, it’ll be a breeze!” She looked back at Princess Luna. Luna was staring back at her, but her gentle smile had wavered, instead a slight frown crossing her face. “Princess Luna?”

Luna briefly looked away. “Night Glider… please know that I understand your situation.”

“You do?”

Luna raised her hoof and stomped it back down. Suddenly they were surrounded by hundreds of black doors. Night Glider marveled at them as they seemed to stretch as far as she could see.

“Being able to enter ponies’ dreams like this allows me to see into ponies’ psychies. In this case, your memories.”

Night Glider slowly reached for one of the doors, her curiosity piqued. She looked at Luna, who gave her a small nod, before turning back and opening the door. For a second, there was nothing but a black swirl inside, until a scene formed.

“Am I in trouble?”

Night Glider kicked her legs under the table nervously as she looked back and forth between her parents. They glanced at each other, then both smiled.

“Not at all,” her mom said. “In fact, we have some big news for you.”

Her dad nodded. “Night Glider, this week your mother and I are going down to Palmacolta for Modus business.”

“Oh, it’s your guys turn again?” Night Glider said, her head lowering down to the table.

“Yes… and we’d like you to come with us.”

Night Glider snapped right back up, her eyes wide. “R-really?”

“Yes. We know you’ve been wanting to go outside of Modus for some time… well, we think that this will be a good time for it to happen. And you’ll get to meet an old family friend, too.”

“And the mayor’s okay with it?” Night Glider asked.

Her mom and dad shared a quick glance.

“Well, no,” her mom said, “but we assured him things would be fine.”

The door suddenly closed itself, and NIght Glider took a step back. She couldn’t hide her smile.

“I remember that,” she said. “It was a few days before I got to leave Modus for the first time. One of the happiest days of my life.”

Luna nodded. “I am not surprised you were drawn to that door. Strong memories seem to pull us in. But…” Luna paused, looking around at the multitude of doors. “But sometimes, strong positive memories can cloud negative ones.”

Night Glider rested her hoof on the door and sighed, before turning to face Luna.

“You’re here to talk me out of this, aren’t you?”

Luna shook her head. “I assure you, I am not. My original intent was simply to help you through a nightmare. However, after seeing the contents of some of these doors, I believe that at the very least, I should be able to offer you some perspective.”

Night Glider began to walk, dragging her hoof along each door. From behind, each one, she could faintly hear familiar voices. Her parents, the other ponies in Modus, Dusty, the mayor… all their sentences, all their conversations, bringing up another memory.

“Wow,” she muttered. “I can still remember all these so vividly.”

Luna paused. “You can hear what’s happening beyond the doorways?” Night Glider nodded, and Luna smiled. “I suppose any pony of your descent would have quite good hearing. It appears you have many, many memories of Modus. Yet…”

Night Glider glanced up at the princess. “Yet?”

“Yet despite so many memories, they are not what I sense the strongest in your psyche.”

Luna stomped her hoof again, and the doors raced away. After a moment, a new set replaced them. On one side of Night Glider, there were only a few doors, each identical to the others. Across from then stood a single door, the only remarkable thing about it being a dilapidated padlock hanging off of the knob.

“From what I can gather, these memories are just as strong with you,” Luna continued, motioning towards the set of doors on the right. Night Glider trotted over and opened the first door.

“This is a chance for all of us to get to know each other for the very first time!” Double Diamond said.

“And I finally have a chance to bake something besides terrible muffins!”

Night Glider smiled again. “This is just after we ran Starlight Glimmer out of town. We were all so happy to finally get to know each other, we got a party going for the whole town that night. And the Princess of Friendship and her friends… everything they did for us was so great.”

She closed the door and walked to the next one, pressing her ear to it. She could hear voices from inside, but though they sounded vaguely familiar, she couldn’t quite place from where. She looked over at Luna, who gave her another nod, before she opened the door.

“Oh, you know what? You should totally come visit us in Cloudsdale!”

“Cloudsdale? I’ve, uh, never been there. Do you think ponies would be okay with me being there?”

“Uh… I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be okay with you.”

“They wouldn’t? I mean, yeah, I guess they wouldn’t really mind…”

“Of course not! So come visit us! We all work at the Cloudsdale Weather Association of Cloudsdale, just look us up when you swing by!”

“Hey, it’s those pegasi,” Night Glider said as she closed the door. “From a few days ago. They saved me from that storm!” She trotted forward, listening carefully to each door without opening them. “That’s that filly I saved. And Dusty’s behind that one!” She turned to the door with the padlock across the way. “What’s behind that door?”

Luna closed her eyes. “I shouldn’t say just yet. As I told you, I wanted to provide you some perspective. Your memories from Modus are fairly strong, but so are these. They are just as strong.”

“Just as strong as my…” Night Glider trailed off. She looked out over the few doors that were in front of her, then thought back to the hundreds of doors that had been there minutes before. Something in the back of her mind clicked. “No, no no no no.”

Luna leaned down. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes, something is wrong!” Night Glider started to pace back and forth. “Ever since I got my life back, all I can think about is Modus. I have spent every waking moment thinking about Modus; the things that happened there, the way they treated me so differently, and more importantly, going back. Well now, I’m there. I even got let back in! And I just know that if I talk to my parents, I can be let back in completely, not just for a half hour.”

Overhead, the starscape had begun to swirl with dark clouds. Luna glanced up at them, then back to Night Glider.

“And now you’re just telling me that everything I encountered in Modus, everything I dealt with, is just as strong in my mind as the past week?”

Luna shook her head. “That is not what I am saying. It is a very complicated world, the subconscious. I cannot say which is more ‘important’ to you, I can only comment on their existence.” She motioned towards the doors. “These memories may not be as important to you as your memories of Modus, but the fact remains that both sets of memories are just as strong as one another, yet one contains far, far more memories.”

Night Glider sat down and gazed at the doors again. She could feel a pit in her stomach as she faintly heard the scenes playing out behind them. 

“But… Modus is where I’m supposed to be,” she quietly said. “The past week has been really cool and all, but Modus is my home. It’s where I belong.”

Luna’s wings drooped. She trotted over to Night Glider and gently kneeled down in front of her.

“Night Glider,” she said, “I cannot tell you what to do. But as I said, I want to offer you perspective. Modus is a town that is very close to me. I have visited there often in my life, and the ponies there remain steadfastly loyal to me, no matter what has happened. Apart from any pony who actually lives there, I believe that I understand Modus more than anyone in all of Equestria.”

There was silence. A part of Night Glider was praying she could wake up, she wouldn’t have to hear what came next. But her sight remained locked with the princess, who took a deep breath before continuing.”

“Night Glider, I do not believe that you belong in Modus.”

The pit in Night Glider’s stomach dropped. The universe felt as though it was spinning around her, threatening to collapse back into the nightmare it had been. She leapt to her hooves.

“NO!” she screamed, causing stars around her to fly back as the black clouds continued to swirl. “I’m not going to just accept that, dammit!”

“Please, calm down,” Luna said, worriedly looking at the clouds overhead. “I was not trying to tell you what to do, only offering my own view.”

“I don’t care!” Night Glider said, stepping backwards. “I am so sick of ponies telling me where I belong! I know where I belong, and it’s home, in Modus! Modus is where I was born, Modus is where I grew up, and I—”

As she was backing up, she bumped into the locked door. She whirled around, just as the old padlock on it rattled and fell to the ground. The door swung open.

Inside was almost pitch-black, except for a small blue swirl in the center. But within seconds, it began to swirl faster and faster at a remarkable speed, until a scene began to play out.

Night Glider pitched forward, her body slamming into the ground. Around her, she could hear laughter.

“See?” one of the other kids said. “She can’t even hang with us!”

“Why is she even in school?” another said. “Her parents should just home school her or something.”

Tears welled up in NIght Glider’s eyes as she pushed herself up, turning to the other kids. “S-shut up!!”

“You’re a total weirdo!” a kid yelled. “We don’t wanna see you anymore.”

“What’s going on here?!” the teacher yelled as he flew down.

Night Glider buried herself in the teachers chest. “T-they were telling me I play with them!”

The teacher looked up at the other students for a moment, then down at Night Glider again.

“Maybe you should go play elsewhere for recess.”

“But they—”

“It’s your first day of school, Night Glider, you don’t want to cause a scene.”

The blackness inside the door swirled again.

“You? Help us?”

Night Glider nodded. “Yeah! I figured if you guys are putting up a new hut, I could at least help out there!”

“Look, Glider,” one of the other ponies said. “I appreciate the offer, I guess, but we don’t really want your help.”

“Why not? I can do everything that you guys can do?”

“Hah!” the pony laughed in her face. “Yeah, you can do everything we can do, but about half as well. Go find something more suited to your abilities, Night Glider, because we certainly don’t have anything.”

The darkness swirled.

Night Glider curled up in bed, trying to drown out the voices from downstairs, to no avail. She cursed her hearing.

“She’s going to be crushed,” her mom said.

“I know,” her dad replied. “She wanted this so bad. I actually thought the mayor would allow her on a hunt this time… what did he say?”

“He said that he still doesn’t trust her. He wants to wait another year, at least.”

“Another year?” her dad said. “Dear Luna… it’s all she’s been practicing for, all she’s been talking about for weeks now. She really thought she had it this time.”

“Should we tell her now?”

“No, we should wait. Let’s let her sleep for now.”

Night Glider pressed her face into her pillow, trying to muffle her sobs as best she could.

Every fiber of Night Glider’s being was screaming to turn away, but somehow she couldn’t. Her body felt as though it could collapse at any moment, but still she watched as again the image swirled.

“Alright, final preparations.”

Night Glider couldn’t hide her smile as she gathered the rest of her supplies. Around her Modus was a flurry of activity, with more ponies preparing to go on the hunt. And for the first time, she would be able to join them.

“We’re letting Night Glider on the hunt?” she heard one of her co-hunters say behind her. “Why?”

“Probably just to quiet her down,” another said. “Make her feel like she belongs.”

“But she doesn’t belong in Modus. She never will.”

Night Glider closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing their words out of her mind. SHe turned around to find another pony directly in her face.

“You,” he snarled.

“What do you want, Onyx Shock?”

“You had better not screw this up.”

“You said that yesterday, too.”

“And I’ll say it as many times as I need to!” he yelled. “I don’t want you on this hunt any more than anypony else does.”

“The mayor said I could participate, so that’s all there is to it!” she said. “Just watch, I’ll prove to you that I belong with you guys.”

“Belong with us?” Onyx Shock snorted. “Please. You don’t belong with us. You don’t even belong in this town. If it was up to me, we’d have gotten rid of you long ago.”

With that, Onyx turned around and stormed off. Night Glider swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat, taking a long and stuttering breath before turning to finish her preparations.

Night Glider was completely transfixed on the door, to the screening of her life. The image swirled again, and the breath left Night Glider’s body as she recognized the scene right away. She could feel her whole body trembling as she watched it unfold. 

“Your reckless behavior is directly responsible for the injuries sustained by the entire hunt team!” the mayor yelled, drawing more shouts of approval from either side of her. “What’s more, you ran!”

“I couldn’t do anything!” Night Glider replied.

“No, you couldn’t! Because what you did proved that above all else, you are a coward!”

Ponies all around continued shouting. Night Glider looked over at her parents, standing helplessly to the side. 

“Look at me when I am talking to you!” The mayor screamed, jolting Night Glider’s attention back to him. “I am sick of you. From the moment you were born, you were a burden on Modus. It is miracle that we have allowed you to stay for this long, but the time has come to act in the best interest of our town, and remove the danger.”

Night Glider went numb. “No… No!”

“I am through with you,” the mayor said. “We are through with you. Night Glider, you have been a danger to this village for far too long.

“But…”

The mayor shook his head. “By the rights vested in me as the mayor, I hereby announce the exi—”

Night Glider couldn’t bear to hear it again. With every ounce of energy left in her body, she slammed the door shut. The noise from behind slowly faded, and the padlock on the ground rumbled back and forth a few times, before disintegrating into the air.

Night Glider collapsed against the door. She turned and curled her back legs into her chest, shivering as she watched the clouds overhead dissipate and the doors disappear, leaving her feeling completely alone in the starry void.

She continued shivering as she heard the sound of wings flapping. Princess Luna landed next to her, sitting down. She unfurled one of her wings and gently wrapped it around Night Glider, who immediately curled herself into the Princess’ body. Seconds ticked by in total silence, Luna gently drawing Night Glider in closer whenever her shivers got more intense, but Night Glider didn’t look up at her, instead staring blankly ahead.

Finally, Night Glider opened her mouth. She was barely thinking about what she was saying, but somehow, three words formed.

“... I hate Modus.”




> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although she was still shivering, enough energy had returned to her body to let Night Glider rise to her hooves. She looked back at the door.

“W-why was it locked?” she asked, shifting her gaze towards Princess Luna.

“Some memories remain hidden in the back of our minds,” Luna said as she stood up. “They can take many forms: forgotten incidents, repressed memories, or in your case, memories simply pushed to the side for convenience.”

“Convenience?”

“Oftentimes, we become so focused on one goal that we push aside thoughts and memories that may get in the way,” Luna said. She stomped her hoof, and the door shot off into the distance.

“Oh,” Night Glider said, looking down at her hooves. “So I’ve just been ignoring it this whole time…”

“I doubt that,” Luna replied. “At least, I do not believe you were ignoring it on purpose. I think it was your subconscious ignoring something that went against your journey.”

Night Glider continued to look down at her hooves, just thinking. Princess Luna trotted over to her and rested a hoof on her back.

“I didn’t want you to see what was behind that door all at once,” Luna continued. “It could be quite a lot for a pony to deal with all at once.”

“No,” Night Glider said. “I’m glad I saw that.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Night Glider looked around: there were no doors left anywhere around her, just a vast starry emptiness. As she stared quietly at them, she could still hear voices ringing in the back of her mind.

“You’re a total weirdo!”

“Yeah, you can do everything we can do, but about half as well.”

“He said that he still doesn’t trust her.”

“You don’t belong with us. You don’t even belong in this town.”

A sudden whooshing sound rang in Night Glider’s ears. She looked up to find the door she had slammed shut was directly in front of her. She could even hear the conversations happening again from behind the door.

“Night Glider,” Luna said quietly.

“I know what I said,” Night Glider muttered. She turned away. “I said I hated Modus.”

“As I said, having to experience all of those memories at once was probably not the best for you. It will take some time for you to process everything.”

Night Glider shook her head. “No. I… I meant what I said. I really do hate Modus.”

She sighed. From afar, doors began to swirl back around the two of them, randomly opening and shutting. Night Glider looked into each one, seeing brief glimpses of Modus.

“I have some fond memories of Modus,” she said. “But only a few. So much more of it is hard for me to even think about. There were a lot of ponies who were so hostile towards me from the moment I was born, so many ponies who never gave me a chance. That’s just what Modus was like.”

“Modus has always been isolated from the rest of Equestria,” Luna said. “Outsiders are few and far in between. It is not surprising that they would treat you so differently; I doubt a pony such as yourself will ever be born in Modus again.”

“I don’t care about that!” Night Glider said. “I don’t care that I can’t do everything they can do, because no matter what happened, I still tried! I did my best to keep up with them, and a lot of the time, I did!”

Another door swirled in front of her, and swung open. For a brief second, Night Glider could make out the noise coming from behind it; the sounds of ponies yelling in a frenzied panic, and the roar of a manticore. She turned her head away, reached out, and slammed the door shut.

“But a lot of the time…” Night Glider said, her voice trailing off. 

“Ponies in Modus would likely focus far more on your mistakes than your successes,” Luna said, waving her hoof and sending the door flying into the distance. 

“They had been waiting for me to screw up,” Night Glider continued. “And I did. Pretty badly, too.”

“Mistakes happen,” Luna said.

“But mistakes usually don’t cost you your home!” Night Glider retorted. “I lost everything that makes me who I am for a year because of that incident. I’m only now starting to pull my life back together!” She paused for a moment, then looked back at the ground. “And… now I’m just going back to Modus. To try to start everything over again...”

Night Glider stared blankly into the distance. She sat down, and the stars slowly stopped moving in the distance, until everything around her was still. She took a long breath and exhaled slowly.

“I have no idea what I’m doing here,” she said. Princess Luna trotted over and sat down as well. “I didn’t think anything about this through, and now I’m just here, about to go back to Modus. After everything that happened, after everything they did to me, I’m going back for more.” She shook her head. “I’m so stupid.”

“Not at all,” Luna replied calmly. “It takes courage to know when you are in over your head, or have made a mistake. However, I’m not quite sure I would go that far.”

Night Glider looked up at the princess. “What?”

“I do not believe it is a mistake for you to want to go back to Modus,” Luna continued. “From what I can tell from your memories, it was a very quick, harsh end to your time there. I doubt any pony would be able to fully process everything. I think a desire to return is perfectly understandable.”

Luna stood up and waved one of her hooves. A single door came flying back, and as it opened, Night Glider could again see the mayor standing in front of the town, screaming at her. She averted her gaze.

“I don’t believe what you have been looking for is acceptance,” Luna said. With another wave of her hoof, the door slammed shut.

“Then… what am I looking for?”

Luna shook her head. “I’m afraid that that is something I am unable to answer for you.”

Night Glider lowered her head. “Oh…”

“I understand your disappointment, but as I said, I only wanted to provide you with perspective,” Luna said. “So let me ask you: what is it that you want?”

Night Glider raised her head back up and looked around the starry world she and Luna were in. In the distance she could see a few doors floating by, all shut tightly. 

“I want to know where I belong,” she finally said. “After everything that’s happened over the past year, I just don’t know anymore. Modus was never that great to me, but it’s the only home I’ve ever known. And the time I’ve spent outside of Modus I was either miserable, brainwashed, or thinking about Modus.”

Luna nodded her head. “It can be difficult to know where to go next, when most of your life you have only known isolation.”

Night Glider turned to look directly in the princess’ eyes. “What do I do?”

Luna shook her head. “Again, I do not have the answer for you. And I think you know that there is only one pony who does have the ability to answer that.”

“Yeah…” Night Glider said. “Me.”

“The way I see, it you have two choices,” Luna said. She raised her hooves, and two more doors floated down from the ether. The first door opened, and Night Glider could see herself inside, trotting through the town center of Modus. “You have a path back into Modus, and you can attempt to remain. It may not work, but the fact that you were able to be let in does say that there is hope.”

“I still think that I’ll be able to talk my parents into getting the mayor to let me stay, at least temporarily,” Night Glider said. “But after everything I remember now about Modus…” she trailed off and turned away, as the door slammed shut.

Luna nodded, then waved her other hoof and the second door opened. Night Glider could see herself laying in bed, staring out of a window. She recognized the town immediately. 

“The other option is to go back,” Luna continued, “and create a new life. Although it isn’t where you have spent most of your life, there is a foundation there for you to build on.”

“But then my quest to Modus has been a failure!” Night Glider replied. “I can’t just go back! Neither of these options sound good.”

Luna closed her eyes, and waved her hooves, sending the doors away. “I’m sure that is one way of looking at it.”

“One way?”

Suddenly, the world around her began to shake and quiver. Night Glider leapt to her hooves as one by one, the stars started to go out. 

“What’s happening?” she said as she turned to Princess Luna.

“Do not worry, you are merely waking up,” Luna said. With a flap of her wings she rose into the air. “It’s time for you to make your decision.”

“But—” Night Glider said.

“I believe you have everything you need to decide your future, Night Glider,” Luna said as her body began to shimmer and fade. “But know that whatever choice you make, know that you will have to live with it.”

With that, the princess faded completely into the air. Seconds later, the rest of the world faded.

Night Glider’s eyes fluttered open. The sky was full of stars and the moon hung directly overhead. She rolled off the tree branch she had been sleeping on and landed on the soft forest ground. She looked towards the moon, which for a brief second seemed to shimmer a bit brighter than usual.

She shook the grogginess out of her head, then turned to see that torches had been lit high-up, marking out the gates. For a minute, Night Glider just watched the flicker of the flames in the distance. She gently took her locket in her hoof and shook it, the jingling sounds reverberating off the forest around her. There was nothing in any direction, save for the town in front of her.

There was a gust of wind that made the flames dance about, briefly illuminating the gates between the trees. Night Glider let go of the locket, took a deep breath, and began the walk forward.

It only took a few minutes for a single line of trees to be all that stood between her and the great town in the forest. She paused behind a tree, and closed her eyes.

“I believe you have everything you need to decide your future, Night Glider. But know that whatever choice you make, know that you will have to live with it.”

She opened her eyes and slowly walked between the trees, trying to ignore her heartbeat as she approached the gates of Modus. As she got close, one of the guards noted her, then took off into the air and over the gate. She could hear him say something behind it, and the gates swung open. 

Night Glider swallowed down the lump in her throat as she stared at the entrance to Modus. The town looked like it hadn’t changed a bit; huts and other buildings dotting the ground, with numerous more suspended up in the trees. Ponies were going about their night, very few of them paying attention to the gate opening. Directly behind it was the mayor, accompanied by two guards. Night Glider stepped forward and he nodded.

“You have half an hour,” he said. 

“I know.”

He nodded to the guards. “They are here to escort you to your parents’ home. If you wish to go anywhere else in Modus, you will need explicit permission from one of them. But I will reiterate: half an hour.”

Night Glider nodded. The two guards motioned to her, and she closely followed them as they walked into Modus. For a moment she hesitated on the threshold, but slowly lowered her hoof and placed it on the stone path.

Her heart was still pounding as she walked behind the guards and surveyed the city. There was a calming feeling in the air that quickly came rushing back to her. Modus could be so peaceful at night, even with how active it was. Night Glider closed her eyes and just took a moment to listen to the world around her. It was as if she had never left; everything was exactly as she remembered it.

The serenity was broken by whispers. She opened her eyes and glanced to the side, where she could see a few ponies perched on a low branch. One of them was pointing at her, but immediately dropped her hoof when she saw that Night Glider was staring at them. They were whispering to each other, cautiously eyeing up her and the two guards around her.

Night Glider ground her teeth together and turned back to the path, following the guards. The more their path took them through Modus, the more voices she could hear. Everywhere she looked, she could see more and more ponies staring at her. None were coming forward, none were confronting her, but it was clear that they were all watching.

She kept trotting, trying to push their whispers out of her mind and focus instead on what she was going to say to her parents. She had no idea what was going to happen when she opened the door, but she wanted to be prepared for anything.

“You!”

A voice pierced through the air, shattering the serenity of the town. Night Glider glanced over to see a pony standing in the doorway to a building, his face red with rage and his yellow eyes narrowed as he glared at her. In a flash he was airborne, racing straight towards Night Glider.

She snapped to attention and her muscles tensed up. The two guards leapt in front of her, and the pony racing towards them quickly came to a halt.

“What are you doing back here?” he snarled.

“Hello, Onyx Shock,” Night Glider snarled right back. She looked him over for a second, then zeroed in on his right wing. “Your wing is healed, I see.”

“Answer my question,” he quickly replied. “What are you doing back here? You were exiled. You shouldn’t be here.”

“The mayor allowed me back in,” Night Glider said. “He gave me a half an hour to talk to my parents.”

“That is a half-hour too much,” Onyx said. “Modus doesn’t want you here anymore. Modus has never wanted you. I thought we had finally gotten rid of our problem once and for all. And yet here you are, back to screw up everyone’s life again!”

“I told you, I’m just here to talk to my parents! I’m not going to be doing anything else.”

“I don’t care what you’re here to do. Just you being here is bad enough!” 

There was a long silence. Night Glider could feel the stares of the ponies who were gathering around the confrontation. She looked over at the guards, who were monitoring the situation closely. 

“This is about what happened at the hunt, isn’t it?” Night Glider asked, turning back to Onyx.

“Of course it is!” he said, unfurling his wing. “We put our trust in you, and it went exactly as I expected. It took me a month before I could fly again. But make no mistake, this is about more than that. This is about your mere existence being a threat to Modus.”

“How am I a threat?”

“Because never once in your life have you been able to keep up with anypony here,” Onyx said. “Because when you were given responsibility, you got ponies hurt. And every moment you’re here increases the likelihood of it happening again.”

“I don’t see how talking to my parents is going to cause—” Night Glider stopped herself. She again glanced around to see more ponies had gathered, and she could hear the deep breaths of Onyx as he seethed. She lightly shook her head, then looked him square in the eyes.

“Look, Onyx,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Onyx tilted his head. “Sorry?”

“I’m sorry for what happened at the hunt,” she continued. “I’m sorry that you got hurt. I’m sorry I screwed up. I’m sorry for never being able to ‘keep up’ with you. Is that what you want to hear?”

Onyx stomped his hoof. “Do you really think an apology is what I’m looking for? An apology isn’t going to undo you almost killing us!”

“It was a mistake!” Night Glider yelled. “I don’t know what else you want from me.”

“I want to never have to look at you again!” Oryx seethed. “I want to you know that you’re somewhere where you can’t screw up our lives anymore.” His eyes narrowed. “To be honest, I want to knock some damn sense into you.”

In the back of Night Glider’s mind, something snapped.

“Well if that’s what you want, what’s stopping you?” she said in a hushed tone. “But if you try, I’m going to fight back.”

Onyx bared his teeth; his fangs glistened off the torches that lined the streets. “Gladly!”

He suddenly leapt at her. Before he could get there, a figure landed between them. He extended his black wings in front of each of them.

“Enough!”

The mayor stood between them, glaring back and forth at them. All the ponies around them immediately snapped to attention as he turned to Night Glider.

“I made a risky judgement call even allowing you back into town, Night Glider, and I am not thrilled to see that you have immediately gotten into a fight!”

Night Glider lowered her head down. Onyx Shock smirked.

“Exactly,” he said. He opened his mouth again, but the mayor turned his attention to him.

“It is not like you are fully innocent either, Onyx,” he said. “You are deliberately provoking her.”

“What?!”

“And challenging her to a fight?” The mayor scoffed. “There are a great many things that I feel about Night Glider. But you of all ponies should know that we do not condone physicality between our kind.”

Night Glider raised her head, to find Onyx’s eyes burning. His face was shaking with rage, and he stepped directly in front of the mayor.

“Our kind? Our kind?!” he shouted. “I would never attempt to hurt anypony in Modus. I would never harm anyone of us.” He pointed a hoof at NIght Glider. “She is not one of our kind!”

“I do not like Night Glider either,” the mayor said, “but, by blood, she is one of us.”

“I don’t care about blood! She’s just a pathetic pegasus, she will never—”

“Stop!!!” Night Glider screamed. The mayor and Onyx Shock immediately went quiet and looked at her, as did all the ponies who had gathered. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I… I get it. I’ll never be like you guys. I’ll never be like any of you. But I don’t care!” She turned to the mayor. “I don’t care about any of that. I just want to talk to my parents.”

The mayor stoically nodded. “Good. The guards will take you there immediately. Cause no more trouble.” He glared at Onyx Shock. “That goes for you, too.”

Onyx glared back at the mayor, then at NIght Glider before he took off into the air, back to his home. He shot her one last glance before he slammed the door behind him. The guards continued their walk to her house, and Night Glider followed closely behind as the crowd dispersed.

As they approached their destination, Night Glider looked back at Modus. Ponies were still going about their night, but many of them had their attention turned towards her. As she went from pony to pony, she felt a chill on her back.

She suddenly felt very, very alone.

The guards came to a stop in front of her house. Like so much of Modus, it hadn’t changed in the least since she was last there. The guards stepped aside and she slowly made her way up the door. She took a long breath, let it out, and knocked on the door. 

A few seconds ticked by before she heard the door unlock. Her heart skipped a beat as the door opened, and her parents stood on the other side.

Night Glider opened her mouth, but for a few moments, no words came. She looked at her parents for the first time in a year, but all she could focus on was the same things she had focused on when looking back at the rest of the ponies in Modus. Webbed black wings, slitted eyes, pointed ears… the feeling of loneliness had begun to melt away, yet a voice lingered in the back of her head.

She is not one of our kind!

The two bat ponies inside momentarily glanced at each other, then back out at their daughter.

“Hello, Night Glider,” the mare said.

All Night Glider could do was muster a smile.

“Hey Mom, hey Dad.”

> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

NIght Glider’s mother stepped to one side. “Come in.”

Night Glider took her first step back into her old home. Much like the rest of Modus, not a single thing had changed on the inside. She could feel her knees shaking as she walked to the center of the room and looked around, taking in the house she hadn’t seen in over a year. She looked up at the skylight in the ceiling, staring at the moon for a moment. One of the guards poked his head in and looked at her parents.

“Lucent Star, Dusk Gaze,” he said, “we will let you know when your daughter’s time is up here.”

Lucent nodded. “Thank you,” she said. “Could we get some privacy?” 

The guard nodded and shut the door. Lucent and Dusk glanced at each other, then both looked over at their daughter.

Night Glider had sat down on the couch, across from two chairs. Her legs were still shaking and she took deep breaths and let them out slowly, trying to calm herself down. She looked up at her parents as they trotted over and sat down across from her. 

There was silence. Night Glider waited for her parents to say something, anything, to her, but the silence stretched on and on. She reached up and took her locket in her hoof, holding it tightly,

“We, um…” Dusk Gaze finally said. “It’s nice to see you again, Night Glider.”

“Oh!” Night Glider gasped, not expecting her dad to talk “Uh, it’s nice to see you guys, too.”

“You’re looking much better than when you left,” Lucent added. “You seem more… confident.”

Night Glider shifted her gaze to the side. “I’ve kinda been through a lot in the past year.”

“You have?”

“It’s a long story,” Night Glider said.

Again there was silence. Night Glider felt her knees start to shake again as she raced through ideas of what to say next. She opened her mouth, but her dad interrupted her.

“Night Glider,” he said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I don’t understand why you’re come back.”

Night Glider turned to him. “Y-you don’t?”

“Dusk!” Lucent gasped. “She’s our daughter!”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Dusk said. “We both missed you, and I truly hoped we could see you again. But I never expected that you would actually come back to Modus. You were exiled. You were not meant to return.”

“Not meant to return?” Night Glider quickly replied, her voice raising. Her legs stopped shaking as she looked between her parents. “Everything happened too quickly last year for me. I still don’t even think I’ve processed it all. So I think I have every right to come back and talk to you guys about it.”

“Okay,” her father said. “So, what about it do you want to talk about?”

“You guys know just as well as I do that I wasn’t just exiled because of what happened on the hunt,” Night Glider said. “It was because of who I am. It was because ponies here still think I’m different than them.”

She waited for a response, but there was none at first. Her mother sighed, then slowly shook her head.

“Night Glider… you are different,” she said. Night Glider turned away, but her mom continued.. “I know you don’t like hearing that, but you aren’t.”

“Yeah…” Night Glider muttered. “But I tried! And just because I look different doesn’t mean—”

“There are some things that you can’t overcome simply by trying,” Lucent said as she unfolded her black, leathery wings. Night Glider admired them for a moment, then extended one of her own wings and looked at the soft, feathered outline.

“It’s not just about looking different, Night Glider,” her dad added. “Your echolocation abilities, your flying, your strength… your body simply isn’t built like other Sarosians. Despite everything, you are just a pegasus.”

“I get that I’m some kind of one-in-a-million anomaly, but that doesn’t give Modus the excuse to treat me like some kind of second-class citizen!” Night Glider felt her legs start to shake again. “That doesn’t give them an excuse to hold some kangaroo court and exile me, all while you guys never lifted a hoof to stop it!”

Dusk gasped. “Don’t talk to us like that! We tried to talk the mayor out of it, but he wouldn't budge. Nothing we said had any effect on him, he had his mind made up. There was nothing we could do.”

“Nothing you could do?” Night Glider practically yelled. She reached up and took her locket in her hoof. “You guys gave me this to tell me that I always had a home here! I thought you’d do more to stop this from happening!”

“We did all we could!” her mom said right back. “And you always will have a home with us, because you’re our daughter! What more could we have done?!”

“I… I don’t know…” Night Glider said, slowly slinking back. Her heart continued to pound in her chest and her thoughts were racing. She desperately tried to pick out her next sentence, but was struggling to say anything else. Her dad sighed and looked her directly in the eyes.

“Night Glider,” he said, “why are you here?”

The words rang in Night Glider’s head. She had heard versions of that sentence so many times—from Double Diamond, from Dusty, from Princess Luna—that something about hearing it yet again, at her destination, made her grit her teeth.

“Why am I here?” she said as she leapt to her hooves. “Well, let’s see… a year ago, I got kicked out of my hometown because of a mistake, with nowhere to go. I lived in a cave in a forest for a few days until somepony found me and promised that she could solve all of my problems and take me somewhere I could fit in, but it ended up being a weird cult and I spent a year brainwashed. I went from living my whole life in Modus to having absolutely nothing and being gone for a year with no contact. I’m here because there’s a whole section of my life that I still haven’t had a chance to process. I’m here because I want to make sense of where my life stands right now, and this is the only place I can go to get back to some sense of normalcy!”

Night Glider was hyperventilating. She stumbled back and sat down on the couch again, trying to regain her composure as her thoughts continued to race faster and faster. 

“Night Glider… I’m sorry that things went the way they did, but like I said, there was simply nothing else we could do,” Lucent said. “And as far as just coming back, that’s not a decision that we can just make.”

“I-I know, but…” The words evaded Night Glider again. She felt beads of sweat running down her face. Everything she had wanted to say had become a garbled mess in her mind. “But I can’t just move on from Modus! I can’t let things end the way they did. I-If I don’t have Modus, I don’t have a home anymore!”

“Do you think it would be helpful if we got the mayor here?” her dad asked. “He should be here if you want to talk about this.”

“Um…” Night Glider muttered. A vision of the mayor flashed through her head momentarily. “I…”

“Do you think the mayor will even let her stay?” Lucent said as she looked over at her husband.

“I know he was very against her coming back,” Dusk replied, “but at the very least, he should be a part of this. I’ll go get him.”

Dusk stood up and trotted towards the door. As Night Glider watched him, images flashed in her mind. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore them, but for a few moments, they were all she could focus on.

“Night Glider, you have been a danger to this village for far too long.”

“I have no trust in Night Glider. And I doubt any pony in Modus does, either.”

“If it was up to me, we’d have gotten rid of you long ago.”

“S...stop…” Night Glider whispered to herself.

“You had better not screw this up.”

“Because what you did proved that above all else, you are a coward!”

“I don’t know how much clearer I can make it that we do not want you here.”

“No! Stop!” Night Glider screamed, her eyes shut tightly. “I don’t want to come back to Modus!”

Her father stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. Her mother also turned back to her as Night Glider slowly opened her eyes and stared at the skylight.

“What did you say?” Dusk Gaze said, walking away from the door.

“I don’t know,” Night Glider replied, quietly. “I’ve never said it before.”

As she watched the night sky, Night Glider’s gaze was turned towards the moon. For a split second, she could swear it shimmered a little brighter. 

“Night Glider, I don’t know what you want,” her dad said, returning to the couch. 

Night Glider took a long breath. 

“I guess I don’t really know either,” she quietly said. “ But… but I do know that I don’t want to come back to Modus.”

“You… you don’t?” her mother said. 

“No,” Night Glider said, looking back at her parents. Her heartbeat was starting to come down, and her breathing was becoming less frantic. She looked around the room for a moment.

“I hate it here,” she finally said. “Modus was always hostile to me. I really thought coming back here would change that, but nothing’s changed over the past year. This place still hates me.”

“Night Glider…” Lucent said.

“It’s true!” Night Glider quickly replied. “Modus doesn’t like outsiders. It doesn’t matter that I was born here, that you guys are my parents, or anything. I’m still just a pegasus, so Modus will always treat me like I’m second-class. It doesn’t matter how hard I tried, it was always gonna be wrong for me to be here.”

“Sarosians had to deal with being viewed differently for quite a long time,” her dad said. “Though many are now integrated into society, Modus is far isolated from the rest of Equestria. Most ponies here still on to hold that grudge.”

“Yeah, Modus is pretty set in it’s ways,” Night Glider said. “But that doesn’t make it right, and you guys have to know that! You have to…” She stopped herself as she could feel her heart beating faster again. “Look, it’s not important.”

“It isn’t?” her mom said.

“I said I hate it here, and Modus hates it when I’m here,” Night Glider continued. “Nothing is ever going to make that different, and I can’t keep telling myself that things are just going to be okay here. They aren’t. I get it. I admit it… I don’t belong here.”

As the words left her mouth, another sense of ease came over her. For the first time since entering Modus, her mind went elsewhere. To the three griffons. To Palmacolta. To Dusty. To the gorge and the Quarray Eels. To the three pegasi above the clouds in the forest.

And finally, she thought back to the little town on the edge of desert, in the middle of nowhere. Sugar Belle handing her a bag packed to the brim with scones she had baked specifically for her trip. Party Favor hugging her tightly and telling her how much he and the rest of the town would miss her. 

And Double Diamond, sitting with her and talking to her, comforting her the first night she had remembered Modus. Saying goodbye to her as she flew away.

“This was a mistake,” Night Glider muttered.

“What was?” Dusk asked.

“This whole thing,” Night Glider said. “This trip across Equestria. Having to fight just to get a half-hour of time to talk to you guys. This whole time, I thought was trying to find acceptance. But you know what? I already have a life. One that I’m just starting!”

She looked up at the skylight again at the moon hanging high above, then back to her parents. For the first time since she entered her parent’s home, she smiled. A word that had been bouncing around in the back of her mind finally found its way out.

“I’m not here for acceptance. I’m here for closure. I’m here to finally put Modus behind me once and for all, so I can get on with my life.”

There was a pause. Lucent and Dusk turned to each other for a moment, but neither said anything. Night Glider waited, unsure of what was going to come next. Finally, her mother turned back.

“So then… you have something to go back to?” she asked.

Night Glider nodded. “Yeah. All those ponies who were brainwashed with me, we’re sticking together so we can turn where were we were into a real town. There’s a lot of work we have to do, but we’re all working together on it.” She looked to the side, out the window. “They’ve… all been really supportive of me, actually. They knew about the whole exile thing, but they were cool with it. In fact, they really took me in as their friend.” She shook her head. “And I just abandoned them to come here.”

“Night Glider,” she said, “I’m truly happy to hear that.”

“You are?” Night Glider turned back to her parents. Tears were welling up in Lucent’s eyes, while her dad had a smile on his face.

“It’s exactly as you said: you don’t belong here,” Lucent said. “But after we hadn’t heard from you at all after you were exiled, and nothing from Dusty, we had thought the worst.” She wiped her eyes. “We were so worried about you, Night Glider. We thought you were lost somewhere, or that you were…” She sniffled again. “To think that all this time, you were finally able to build a life for yourself...”

Night Glider smiled back. “Well, it wasn’t exactly building a life for most of the year. But after everything sort of went back to normal, we’ve gotten to know each other. We’re really hoping to set up a community, get the town linked with the rest of Equestria.”

“So you finally found somewhere that makes you happy,” Dusk said. “But you still came back?”

Night Glider sighed. “I kept thinking of Modus, like I had something to prove and just had to come back, that I had to fit in. I guess I haven’t really been looking at the big picture.” She looked up at the moon again. “That’s what Luna was talking about.”

“Luna?” Dusk said. “You spoke to the Princess?”

“Yeah,” Night Glider said. “I fell asleep waiting to get into Modus, and she visited me.”

“What did she tell you to do?”

“She didn’t tell me to do anything. She just talked to me about the different paths I could take going forward. But I think this is the direction she was pushing me to. I just don’t think she wanted to make the decision for me, she wanted me to realize things for myself.”

“Luna hasn’t been to Modus in quite some time,” Dusk Gaze said. “But she took the time to speak with you?”

“I was having a nightmare,” Night Glider replied. “She put a stop to it.”

“Hmm,” her dad muttered.

“Dad?”

“As I said, much of Modus still holds a grudge against the rest of Equestria, and ponies interact with those outside of Modus very rarely,” he said. “If she is now aware of how Modus treated you...  I would imagine she will be returning here. Hopefully to talk to some of the ponies about everything that happened.”

“You guys never had a problem going to Palmacolta,” Night Glider said. Her parents looked at each other, both smiling.

“Because we had you,” her mother said. 

Night Glider smiled back. She reached up and grasped her locket in her hoof. The sense of unease and trepidation that had followed her from the moment she left town, and had only grown when she had entered Modus, had faded. She took in a long breath.

“If Modus is never going to change it’s ways,” she said, “I don’t think there’s any reason for me to even be here anymore. I think I should get going.”

“Are you sure?” Lucent said. “You’ve barely been here for fifteen minutes.”

Night Glider nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. I get where I belong now,” she said. 

Night Glider stood up and looked at the door. Her mother stood up and trotted next to her.

“Are we going to see you again?” she asked.

“Well, I doubt I’m going to be back in Modus any time soon,” Night Glider replied. “Or ever, really. But you know what? You guys should come visit me.”

Her parents again glanced at each other. “Would that be alright?” Dusk asked.

“Of course!” Night Glider said. “It’s a bit out of the way, but I made the trip in a few days. Once things are up and running, I’ll find a way to let you know.”

Night Glider paused at the door. She took one look back around at the room, then down at her parents. Her mother and father were standing right behind her; her mother had tears in her eyes, while her dad was wiping one from his.

“Night Glider…” she said quietly.

Without another word, Lucent Star leaned in and wrapped her daughter into a tight hug, with Dusk joining in a second later. Night Glider returned the embrace.

“We missed you so much, Night Glider,” her mom said through sniffles. “I’m so glad that you’re okay…”

“I missed you guys, too,” Night Glider said. “I’ll stay in touch, somehow. I promise.”

They finally let go, and with one last smile, Night Glider opened the door and stepped out. The two guards turned to her.

“I’m ready to go,” she said to them. The guards nodded at each other and trotted forward, motioning for her to follow. She looked around Modus, seeing ponies shoot her awkward glances or outright ignore her. With a smirk, she just turned back to the guards escorting her back.

The mayor stood at the gates, patiently waiting. When he saw Night Glider and the guards approaching, he raised a single eyebrow, then flew over to them.

“Are you finished already?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Fine,” the mayor said, then looked at the guards. “You are dismissed, I will take it from here.”

The guards flew away, and the mayor nodded at Night Glider, then beckoned for her to follow him the rest of the way to the gate. They had only made it a few steps before the mayor spoke again.

“You understand that there is no second opportunity,” he said. “This was it. Do not expect to be let into Modus again.”

“And I have no intention of returning,” Night Glider said.

“Good. You were lucky that I even let you back into Modus.”

Night Glider gritted her teeth for a moment, then stopped in her tracks. The mayor looked back at her.

“What?” he grumbled.

“I want to write to my parents,” she said, staring directly at the mayor.

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t want me in contact with the rest of Modus. I’m okay with that,” Night Glider said. “But I think I have a right to talk to my parents. I’ll stay out of Modus, I won’t even talk to other ponies from Modus if I ever see them. But I want to stay in touch with my parents, so they don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

The mayor stared at Night Glider for a few tense seconds. Night Glider stared right back, not moving, until the mayor snorted and turned back to the gate.

“As long as you don’t return to Modus, or get involved with any business related to the town, I don’t care what you do,” he said.

Night Glider nodded, and they walked out through the gates. She took a few steps forward and looked back at the mayor.

“Your time in Modus is over,” he said. “I can assure you, being let in was a one-time event. Your exile remains.”

“I understand,” Night Glider said.

“I hope that you got whatever it was you were looking for in Modus.”

The mayor turned to leave. As he started to step away, Night Glider glanced down at her locket. She smiled.

“To be honest, I didn’t.”

The mayor stopped in his tracks. He glanced behind his shoulder at her.

“Excuse me?”

“I think I got most of what I needed on the way here,” she continued.

She smiled. The mayor snorted again, then turned and trotted away. As he did, the gates began to swing shut. Night Glider turned and took her locket in her hoof, holding it tightly as she unfolded her wings and took off. She closed her eyes, feeling the wind blow against her mane, as she let go of her locket and let it jingle in the air. Behind her, the great gates of Modus slammed shut, the sound causing a shockwave that revealed the path in front of her as she flew.

> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Party Favor, Double Diamond, and Sugar Belle stood on the the second floor of the town hall. They stared at the half-finished roof that dangled off the edge, barely avoiding falling to the ground by hanging on to support beams that were jutting out the side of the building. Party Favor and Sugar Belle glanced at each other.

“So, what happened?” Double Diamond asked.

“It just sorta slid off,” Sugar Belle replied. “I guess we didn’t secure it properly. Thankfully it caught there so it didn’t hit the ground, but neither of us want to touch it.”

“Well, let’s at least try to pull it back up so it’s not just hanging there,” Double Diamond said as he stepped forward.

Are you sure about this?” Party Favor said. “We should probably get somepony else to help out with this. This seems kinda… precarious.”

“No way, we can totally do this!” Double Diamond said. “We just have to grab it and pull it up the rest of the way. Once it’s here it’ll be fine, we can attach it later. But we can’t just leave it hanging there.”

“Double Diamond,” Sugar Belle said, “I’m glad you’re all gung-ho about this, but we really do need some help for this. I don’t think three of us can handle this.”

“Eh, maybe,” Double Diamond said. He trotted over and put his hooves on the side of the roof. “But at the very least we can give it a try, you know? We might be able to get it.”

As his hoof pressed on it, the weight shifted. Double Diamond stumbled back as the structure fell another few inches, falling off one of the beams holding it up. Double Diamond leapt and grabbed the corner as it buckled again, the whole roof feeling like it was going to come apart in his hooves.

“Okay I don’t think we have time now,” he said, planting is hooves on the floor as best he could.

Party Favor and Sugar Belle ran over and grabbed onto the roof, hanging on as it swung back and forth.

“Help!” Sugar Belle yelled. “Somepony, we need some help with the roof!”

“Hang on, I got it!” came a voice from the other side. The roof suddenly stopped swinging, and the three ponies could feel the weight gradually ease up. “You guys got it? I’m going to lower it down, just keep holding onto it so it won’t fall!”

Slowly they lowered the roof down, the fourth pony keeping it steady. Finally, the weight completely gave out.

“Alright, it’s on the ground!” she shouted. 

The three ponies let go and held their breath, but the roof stayed leaning against the side of the building. They let out a collective sigh of relief.

“That could have been a disaster,” Party Favor said, wiping sweat from his brow.

“Yeesh,” the voice said. “This place is falling apart without me, huh?”

The three turned to the source of the voice. Double Diamond’s eyes went wide.

“Night Glider?!”

Night Glider dropped her saddle bag to the ground. “Hey guys!” She barely finished the sentence when Double DIamond ran up and grabbed her in a hug, accidentally dropping them both to the ground.

“Night Glider! You’re back!” he shouted, holding her tighter. “Oh man it is so great to see you again, we missed you all so much!” He jumped to his hoovers so he was standing over her. “What was it like? Did you see your family? Did you—” He paused as he stared down at Night Glider, then his face went red. “Oh, uh, sorry,” he said, then stepped back and let Night Glider get up.

“I’ve been gone just over a week, Double-D,” Night Glider said with a giggle as she reached out and hugged him. “You’re such a dork.”

Party Favor and Sugar Belle rushed in and joined the group hug. “We didn’t expect to see you back so soon!” Party Favor finally said. “So, what happened? Are you back to pick stuff up? What was Modus like?” He paused and stepped back as his ears fell. “Oh no… did they not let you back in?”

“No, they let me back in Modus, and I got to talk to my parents,” Night Glider said, pulling away from Double Diamond and Sugar Belle. It’s just that… well, a lot happened on my way home, and I kinda realized something that I should have figured out a while ago.”

“What?” Sugar Belle said. Night Glider smiled.

“That this is my home. That you guys are my family. I’m really sorry that I left so suddenly, I was being impulsive. I hope you guys don’t hold it against—”

“We won’t hold it against you!” Double Diamond practically shouted. Party Favor and Sugar Belle giggled as he cleared his throat. “I mean, of course we won’t. You’re our friend! You said this was something you had to do, and you did it. I’m just happy to see you back.”

“Yeah, we are too!” Sugar Belle said. “You’re gonna have to tell us everything that happened!”

“Absolutely,” Night Glider said. “But not right now. I wanna go say hi to everyone.”

“Sure!” Double DIamond said. “We’ll come with you. Everyone's gonna want to know that you’re back!”

He ran up alongside Night Glider and smiled at her, as the two of them trotted towards the stairs. Party Favor and Sugar Belle chuckled as they followed her down the stairs and out into town.

----------

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The stars were shining brightly, and the moon was hanging low in the distance. Night Glider sat on the roof, staring off into the distance at the stars. There was a light wind that was blowing her mane back. She took in a deep breath of the crisp night air. 

She hadn’t been able to sleep. She had only gotten back to town a few hours ago after a long flight, but despite the journey back, every time she closed her eyes, her mind raced. 

Her ears twitched.

“Hello?” she said, craning her neck to the side “Somepony down there?”

“Uh, hey,” a voice came from below.

“Double-D? What are you doing up so late?” She trotted to the edge of the roof and looked over at Double Diamond standing on the ground.

“I could ask you the same question,” Double Diamond said. “Actually, no, you’re kinda built for being nocturnal. I saw you sitting up here, just wondering if everything’s okay?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Everything’s great. Wanna come up?”

“Sure!” he replied, then glanced around. “Uh, don’t see a ladder around here…”

Night Glider jumped to her hooves and flew down. Before Double Diamond could even react, she had scooped him up by the legs and was carrying him up to the roof.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “This works too.”

Night Glider landed on the roof, letting go of Double Diamond and sitting down again. Double Diamond sat down next to her, and they both watched the sky.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No way. Thinking about too much.”

“Oh…” Double Diamond said, scratching the back of his head. “About Modus?”

Night Glider shook her head. “No. About a bunch of friends I have in Palmacolta. About a place called Cloudsdale that a bunch of pegasi invited me to come visit. About wanting to get this place up and running, make up for the time that I missed here.”

Double Diamond looked over at her. “Really? You’re not thinking about Modus?”

“Nah,” she said. “Not right now, anyway.”

“Right now?” Double Diamond shuffled his hoof against the floor. “Hey, Night Glider, I don’t think you told any of us yet… what exactly happened in Modus?”

Night Glider watched as a shooting star went by in the far distance. She took in another breath and turned to Double Diamond.

“Nothing,” she said.

Double Diamond raised an eyebrow. “Nothing?”

“Yeah,” Night Glider continued. “I went in, I talked to my parents about what I was doing with my life, and I left. I wasn’t even there twenty minutes.”

“Huh,” Double Diamond said. “I mean, after all that travel and everything you said to us, I kinda expected to hear that there was more.”

“Yeah, I did too,” she said. “But I got all the answers I was looking for on the way there. It was just a matter of realizing it for myself, you know?”

“So are you ever going to go back?”

Night Glider sighed. “No. The mayor made it clear, I got lucky to be let in, it’s never going to happen again. He’ll let me send letters to my parents, but other than that, the Modus part of my life is done forever.”

She didn’t say anything for another moment. Double Diamond scooted a bit closer to her.

“Sorry, Night Glider,” he said. 

“Yeah. I’m losing a lot of my past. Most of it, really,” she said. She turned and looked Double Diamond in the eye, “But you know what? I have a whole new life to start here. They don’t want me there, and I’m finally okay with that. I think I like this new life way better than the old one anyway.”

She turned back to watch the night sky. Double Diamond scooted closer again, to the point where he was almost touching Night Glider. He looked around nervously and took a deep breath, then slowly leaned his head over onto her shoulder. Night Glider glanced down at him, then slowly smiled and rested her head on top of his.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m really happy you’re back,” Double Diamond said. “We all are. I know it’s tough to let go of home… but I’m really happy you did.”

Night Glider turned to look back out over the starry sky, as in the distance the moon seemed to shimmer brighter.

“Yeah,” she quietly said. “I am, too.”