Shadow looked at the card in his hoof. So ordinary looking… yet could offer him all of the power in the world. He could feel the push to tear it and break the lock, unleash the power inside. However, he knew its effects well. He glanced at the alicorn lying in the dirt. Sighing, he concentrated on the card. “This card has caused enough damage.” With a single flash of shadowy power in his eyes, Shadow banished the card.

“Where’s it gone,” Phoenix asked, landing next to Shadow and folding up his wings.

“A place familiar to Valkyrie. His home for many a year. The Dark Tower.” Shadow glanced at his brother, shadows teaming around him. “None will find it there.”

“Let’s hope so…” Shadow shielded his eyes as his brother burst into a flare of light. When the light faded, Phoenix had once more become Hot Shot. How far his power has fallen… Shadow looked at his own hooves, watching the shadows curl around them. Changing back, I lose this… this feeling, this invincibility… “Well well…” Hot glanced at him curiously. “I seem to have lost control…” Is it all that bad to give into such power?...

“Come on, don’t fool around, Card…”

Shadow remembered that name, sparking a memory deep inside his shadow clouded mind. Friends. Brothers. A past… He was losing himself. “H-Hot, I’m not sure how to come back.” He hung his head, thinking. If he didn’t change back soon, he would lose himself completely. There had to be some way…

“W-wait…” Slowly, Shadow’s hoof went to his pearly white mask. It was smooth to the touch and seemed to burn as he touched it. “I wonder…” Concentrating, Shadow closed his eyes. He felt all of the shadows within him, far more than he had ever sensed before. With an intense amount of self control, Shadow willed all of the shadows, all those he could not control fully, into the mask. Slowly, spreading from his hoof, darkness filled the mask, turning the white to black. He felt his shadows drain from him, all of his wounds aching. The mask turned its darkest and fell off as Card, back to normal, sighed. He felt… drained.

“Seems the mask changes you…”

Card nodded, trying to clear his head. “I-I feel surprisingly weak now.” He put the mask in his hat, not trusting himself with it just yet.

Hot smiled ruefully. “M-me too…” Hots smile grew. “We won, Card!”

Card glanced at the white alicorn. He had read all about this alicorn in the book Discord had led him to. He still wasn’t sure why Discord had led him to the book. It didn’t matter now, though. All that mattered was he now knew the alicorn’s name. “Accord,” he muttered under his breath.

At the mention of his name, Accord groaned and opened his eyes. Card noticed they still retained the yellow and red of Discords eyes. “Ugh, my head…” Accord glanced at Card and Hot. “ACK YOU TWO!” Accord quickly tried to scramble away from them in fright. “DON’TKILLMEDON’TKILLMEDON’TKILLME!” Card sighed inwardly, feeling pity for the alicorn. Is this really an all powerful alicorn, or a frightful coward?...

“They won’t…” a voice said, startling all three ponies gathered. All of them turned to the rightof the crater to be greeted by Drake. Drake was glaring at Accord. “…Accord…” Accord collapsed back into the crater, eyes wide with fear. Drake turned to the two brothers, smiling. “Card… Hot…” He trotted up to the two of them and hugged them tightly, smiling brightly. “I am so proud of both of you.” Card hugged back with Hot, smiling as well. Drake turned to tussle Hot’s mane. “How’s dying feel, kid? Kinda like going to sleep with a sting?”

Hot smiled ruefully. “Y-yeah…”

Card turned to Hot. “I’m sorry that happened… D-discord, he-“

“Don’t worry about it, Bro.” Hot winked at Card, causing him to smile. “Planned it like that.”

Card picked up the mask as Drake spoke. “Has it never occurred to you how neither Spectrum nor I are pegasi?”

Card took that as a small slap to the face. “… No, actually. I always assumed Hot had wings because of your DragonWing form.”

Hot looked curious as well. “Wasn’t it because Grandma from mom’s side was a Pegasus?”

Drake smiled. “Well, yes and no. Yes, your grandmother was a Pegasus. No, because it means he inherited a very rare skill from my bloodline.” Drake smiled softly. “The Flame of the Phoenix burns brightly inside you, Hot. That’s why I knew you two would be a perfect match.”

Card grinned at Hot. “Who’d have thought?” Hot grinned, rubbing his head.

Unseen by the brothers, Accord slowly crawled out of the crater and began to sneak away. “Accord!” He froze as Drake called out his name. Slowly, he turned to look back at Drake. He was rather surprised to see him smiling. “You’ll need a place to stay.”

“W-what?...”

“You heard me.” Card had to smile at Drakes kindness.

“Y-you… You aren’t mad?” Accord looked bewildered.

“I’m mad at Discord, not you.”

Accord hung his head, shaking it slightly. “B-But I was Discord… I did horrible things because he’s inside of me. I can feel his power, even now.” He shut his eyes angrily. “I-I never should’ve used that card…”

Drake retained his smile despite Accords negativity. “We all did terrible things in our lives. Just come to Sugar Cube Corner.”

Hot glanced at his father, confused. “Dad, he’s the enemy!” Accord winced at the term.

Drake shook his head. “He’s not anymore.” He waved Accord over.

Accord timidly walked over. All signs that he had been Discord before were erased, except for a single fang and his peculiar eyes. Accord turned to Hot. “You know, t-that Phoenix form of yours isn’t bad… But when you charge forward, you need to keep your wings a bit straighter. You’ll have more control over how and where you fly.”

Hot’s confusion grew. “Are you… giving me battle tactics?”

Accord smiled a bit ruefully. “M-My bad… force of habit…”

“Habit,” Card asked, smiling. He realized that, without a word from anyone, they had all started walking back to the Inn. Hot wobbles a bit on his hooves from exhaustion. Drake went ahead and grabbed his son, letting him ride his back home.

Accord’s smile grew as Card kept him talking. He was already starting to grow more comfortable around him. “I-I used to work for the princesses… I was their tactician.”

“Interesting~” Drake nodded his agreement.

Accord glanced at Card. “You have a lot of problems flying, don’t you? You didn’t fly as well as most pegasi I’ve seen, and you depended a lot on your shadows. That made you lose energy much faster.”

Card merely smiled. “I am not a natural Pegasus.” Card extended his wings, showing the metal structure of them. “Since these aren’t your average wings, I won’t fly like your average Pegasus.”

Accord was stunned by the wings. “What an interesting concept…”

They reached the town and veered towards the Inn, following the path. Card still smiled, though looked very exhausted. Drake glanced at him, surprised at the stallion’s endurance. “You okay, Card?”

Card nodded. “That form took quite a bit out of me.” Card glanced up at his hat, knowing that inside rested the black mask. “I can’t use it often.”

Drake nodded at Cards exhaustion. “Yeah, I can tell you’re tired.”

Card smiled. “We may both be tired, but you should’ve seen Hot back there.” Laughing, his boyish dialect began to shine through. “He looked epic.”

Drake chuckled. “Oh?~”

“He had this whole cloak and fire combo.”

“Interesting~”

“Of course,” Card said, grinning, “I don’t think I looked half bad~”

Hot laughed from his father’s back. “Yeah, you looked neat.”

Finally, all four stallions reached their destination. Accord took a deep breath, scared to enter this place. He remembered it from all of his crimes as Discord. He had tried to break into this Inn many a time, trying to poke fun at the Innkeeper and achieve his main goal. “A-are you all sure about this?...”

Hot smiled. “Hey, if dad says so, then I’m sure.”

Card chuckled and opened the door, walking in. Without a moment’s hesitation, a pink blur tackled him to the floor, hugging him tightly. Card gasped as he felt the wind knocked out of him. On top of him was the Innkeeper, nearly sobbing over top of him in joy. “O-Oh my goodness, CardIheardyouweregoingtobattleandIwassoworriedI’msogladyougotbackhomes-s-safely!!”

Cards eyes spun at the amazing feat Pinkie has just displayed by her lack of breath. “D-diane, s-slow down…”

Pinkie stood, sniffing. “S-sorry, Card.” She reached out her hoof and helped him up, hugging him tightly. “I-I’m so happy, you must’ve won!”

Card smiled at her and glanced at the doorway. “Diane… I’d like you to meet your newest guest.”

Accord timidly walked in, a shy smile on his face. “Hello…”

Diane instantly recoiled as the pony spoke. “T-that’s Discords voice… That’s… DISCORD?!”

Accord merely stood there, unsure what to do. Card nodded. “Yes. It is.”

Pinkie glared at Card. “I thought you were killing him! Not making him an alicorn!”

Card smiled softly at the Innkeeper. “Diane, tell me honestly. Would you EVER want me to kill somepony?”

Pinkie was a little startled by the question. She had often solved disputes at the inn that were going too far with her own personal motto: No spilling blood, on the carpet or anywhere else. Killing was not an option to her anymore. She sighed, seeing Cards point. “W-well, No…”

“Besides Diane,” Card continued, “This is not Discord. This is Accord, and I do believe he is in need of a room.”

Accord took that as his cue to speak. “I-I swear I’ll be on good behavior. I deeply regret all that happened. I don’t even like being evil.”

Pinkie glared at Accord, trying to find the trick there. She sighed, giving up and poofing up some keys. “I haven’t turned somepony away as of yet…” She handed him the keys.

Accord gave Pinkie a genuine smile. “Thank you… P-pinkie.”

Pinkie couldn’t help but smile back. At least he was trying. “Sure thing, Accord.”

Card smiled at the sight and yawned. He was still exhausted. Hot yawned as well as Drake smiled. “I think some warriors need some rest~” Drake happily carried his son back to their room. “Time for sleep, big guy.”

Card heard Hot say something as they walked down the hall, but passed it off as idle conversation between father and son. Card began walking to his own room as he heard the door open to a female voice. “Finally! An Inn that’s still open!” Card chuckled as he heard Accord begin to speak to the new mare. He knew Diane would be matchmaking the two in no time. He opened the door to his room to find it as it always was – Dark and Lonely. He sighed. “So much for the big welcome home…”

Suddenly, hooves grabbed him from behind in a tight embrace. Card was shocked to hear his mother, Mimic, behind him, hugging him tightly. “Don’t you think that for an instant, Card.”

Lily trotted in quickly, causing Card to smile further. “Even I heard, Card! You went to battle?!”

Card smiled a bit awkwardly, unused to this level of… well, Love. “Y-yeah…”

Lily hugged him tightly as well as Mimic let go. “I’m just so glad you’re okay!”

Mimic began to say something about Hat being away on business, but Card didn’t hear a word of it. He just leaned down and kissed Lily deeply, savoring their kiss. During the battle, right as the blade began to swing down; he realized he would never be able to see her again. Lily was surprised and giggled under the kiss. As they broke the kiss, Card smiled at Lily. “I’m never going to let you go, Lily~”

Lily smiled back, eyes shining with love. “I know you won’t.”

“CAD,” a tiny voice shouted. Card felt something hug onto a part of his hoof and looked down. He smiled as his little sister clung to his hoof, looking thrilled.

“Why, hello Masky~”

Lily smiled a bit. “Your little sis was worried as hell…”

Masky nuzzled her brother’s hoof, cooing slightly. “Cad safh!”

Card chuckled, knowing somehow what his sister had said. “Yes, Masky. I’m home and I’m safe~” Masky smiled and nuzzled his hoof once more.

Back in his room, Hot was getting a similar treatment. Upon walking in after leaving Drakes back, Hot was slapped. Hard. “OW!!” Hot’s hoof went to his cheek as his mare friend, Parker, hugged him tightly, sobbing. “P-Parker?!”

“H-HOT!! I-I-I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!!”

Hot ignored the stinging in his cheek, understanding instantly what had happened. Parker had heard of his death. He hugged her back, holding her comfortingly. “Never, Parker. Sorry I didn’t say anything…”

Parker sniffed, sobbing still. “D-d-don’t you ever leave me again, Hot Shot!”

“I promise.”

Parker couldn’t help but giggle. “Y-You never did stick to your promises well.” Parker pulled him closer and kissed him deeply. Hot chuckled under the kiss, smiling lightly. Suddenly, a little colt wormed his way into the embrace, being hugged by both. Hot grinned at his little brother, Flash Flame. Flash hugged his brother, giggling. Parker smiled at Hot. “Two more ponies were worried about you.”

From behind him, a filly punched his shoulder. Hot winced in pain, getting sick of the after – battle with his friends and family. He turned to see his sister, StarFang. She scowled at him, but her face softened with tears. “Nubhead.” Without another word she hugged her brother tightly.

Another mare hugged him tightly, sobbing. “L-Love you, sis. A-and you mom.”

Moonshine sobbed, hugging her son. “A-Ah thought y’were DEAD!”

Hot couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “W-well, mom, in a way, I was…”

“Don’t ruin it fer me!” Moonshine just kept hugging her son. Hot just laughed.

“Both of them were great,” Drake said, smiling.

Across the Inn, Card gently reached into his hat and pulled out his black mask. He laid it on his desk next to an empty ink well. Lily glanced at the mask curiously. “Are you sure that’s safe there?”

Card smiled lightly. “Strangely… I have no doubt~”

Author's Notes:

:) Everything goes back to normal. It's all good. Now, all that's left?

An empty inkwell. ;)

Epilogue coming, guys. Epilogue coming.