The dungeon hadn’t changed a bit since he had been there last. Same dank, dark atmosphere, same cobblestone floors, walls and ceiling and even the same moldy smell. They weren’t taking him to the regular level, they were taking him down to death row. Memories flash through his mind of what he use to be, the thing that he hated so much, the thing that drove him away from his morals. As they pass through the massive metal door Nexus nearly fell forward at what was sitting in the middle cell.

The first thing he noticed were the stallion’s eyes. The purple-blue, serpent-like eyes. His black mane was caked with dirt, and his tail looked like three scythe blades. His ears were curved and pointed like a zebra and that wasn’t the only thing; black stripes cover his blood red coat and bloody bandages wrapped around all four of his knees. Where the cutie mark should have been was a Saddle Arabian symbol, common amongst zebras. He even had the black muzzle of a zebra. The zebra/pony looked to only be about a year or so younger then he was. But what really boggled his mind, he was a unicorn. His horn stuck out from under his mangy black mane. Nexus looked over to the other guard, Phalanx, and lowered his voice.

“What is he being charged with?”

“We suspect he’s a changeling. Not a very good one, might be the reason he isn’t with the rest of the herd.”

Nexus’ horn emitted a light glow as he looked back over at the pony/zebra hybrid. What he had been accepting to feel was a natural field of magic around him, but there was none to speak of. He wasn’t even using his horn to try and break his restraints. The glow vanished and he turned back to Phalanx.

“Give me a minute alone with him.” he said.

“Are you sure Captain? He seriously injured two guards.”

“Were they Lunar Guard?”

“N-No, Sir.”

“Then it isn’t in my jurisdiction to be concerned.”

“Your funeral, Sir.”

Phalanx took Storm Cloud back into the hall, closing the massive door behind him.

“So.” Nexus said walking towards the iron bars at the front of the cell. “Does the accused have a name?”

The zebra-pony just stared at him with an angry stare.

“Oh, come on. Everything has a name.”

“My name is Ephialtes (ef-feel-tiss).” the zebra-pony finally said with a smooth, deep voice.

“F-what now?”

“Ephialtes.”

“Okay, Ephialtes, what were you doing when you were arrested.”

“I was looking for the Ponyville library.”

“And?”

“And some bubble gum colored chick with a cotton candy mane screamed, ‘Omi gosh, it’s a changeling! Everypony run!’”

“Well that wasn’t very nice now wasn’t it?”

“No, no it wasn’t.”

“Where ya from?”

“Haystead Swamps.”

“That’s awful close to dragon territory.”

“Yeah it is.”

“There’s also no settlements anywhere near there.”

“Not anymore there aren’t.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because it was wiped out during the last Great Dragon Migration. They pillaged my village and burned it until it was ashes.”

“Where there any survivors?”

“No, I’m the only one that I found.”

“And why should I believe you?”

“What does it matter if you do?”

“’Cause I can help you get out of here.”

“How’s that?”

“You’re not going to like it, but it’s better then the gallows.”

“What is it?”

The early morning air chilled what little skin Nexus had exposed. He had a few books, a packet of personnel files and several design blueprints he had been tweaking settled in his saddle bags. He wore his usual set of legs he wore on the job and a pair of blue, reflective sunglasses on his forehead. The arms of the sunglasses had ear buds curving up into his ears. Nexus walked alone down a residential street in the west side of Canterlot. A small, two story house at the top of a cul-de-sac was his destination. The unassuming house had white siding and black shudders. Nexus smiled as he approached the front door. It only took a minute after he knocked before a dark blue unicorn with a black and gray mane answered the door. Her typewriter cutie mark was covered by a brown dress.

“Lunarus!” she said ecstatic.

“Good morning Mom.” Nexus replied with a smile.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you again!” his mother responded wrapping her forelegs around Nexus’ neck.

“Who’s there Molly?” a stallion called out from the living room.

His coat was black and his gray mane was neatly combed to cover the bald spot on the back of his head. His half moon cutie mark was partially covered by a dress shirt. Once his dark blue eyes fell on Nexus, he lit up.

“Son! Haven’t seen you since your friends wedding.”

“I know, sorry I haven’t been able to come and see you guys more often. Mom, could you let go please?”

“Oh,” she gasped letting go of her son. “sorry. Like you said you haven’t been by in a while.”

“Are you two going somewhere?”

“Your cosine Midnight is getting married at noon in Ponyville. And knowing your father, he’s going to make us late.”

“Hey, I don’t do anything half assed.” He said in his usual snarky tone.

“Not doing anything half assed. Made you late for our wedding.”

Nexus chuckled and took a seat in the living room. “Well that’s good. Give the blushing bride my congratulations. I can’t stay long though.”

“Why, where are you off to?” Nexus’ father asked.

“The Canterlot Military Academy. They need a temporary replacement there to oversee all the new trainees.”

“How long is temporary?” Molly asked.

“I have no idea. Could be a few hours, or a few years.”

“Well, I hope everything goes well. Molly, could you help me with this bowtie?”

“Sure, Burney.” Mom said rolling her eyes.

Molly’s horn started glowing and the tie hanging untied around his neck stared tying itself. That would be a useful spell.

“Go get your jacket honey, we’re running late as it is.”

“Okay Meter.”

“Commander. We’re also starting to run behind.” A.L.I.S. told him inside the ear bud.

“I’ll wrap it up A.L.I.S., calm your circuits.”

“Alice? Who’s Alice?”

“Not Alice, A.L.I.S.. A-L-I-S. Stands for Artificial Logistics & Intelligence Systems.”

“And, where is, A.L.I.S..”

“She’s talking to me through the ear bud. I’m running fashionably late.”

“Oh, well have a safe trip son. And it was so nice to just see you again.”

“You too Mom. See ya dad!” he shouted up the stairs before going out the door.

“Bye son!” he shouted back.

Nexus waved back to his mother as she shut the door behind him. Nexus felt a strange wave of dejavu pass over him as he walked down the to the end of the cul-de-sac. The wind whipped across his face as he approached the bar that kept both earth ponies and unicorns from falling over its edge.

“Commander. I have the weather around Canterlot Mountain for you.” A.L.I.S. informed.

“Put it on the H.U.D. (Heads Up Display).” Nexus said pulling the sunglasses over his eyes.

The lenses of the sunglasses came to life with light green lines and numbers.

“Temperature: 73 degrees. Light cloud cover across central Equestria. Humidity: 42%. Wind speed/direction: 5mph from the northwest.”

“Thank you. Where’s my airspeed indicator?”

“On screen, Commander. ETA to the bottom of the mountain, two minutes if done safely.”

“Yeah, we’re not going to follow the beaten path.”

“Of cores, Sir. What was I thinking?”

Nexus spread his wings as he stood at the edge of Canterlot. Looking down, the lines of his artificial horizon scrolled up as he looked down. With a deep breath, Nexus leapt over the rail and began to fall towards the forest bellow. The wind whipped past his ears and the airspeed counter climbed quickly past 200mph. Half way down the mountain, he fully extended his wings and pulled back. He had only made it halfway down the mountain before he leveled off. Nexus banked hard to the left and flew close to the face of the mountain.

He was only ten feet from the face of the mountain. The rocks along its face rushed by with the wind shrieking in his ears like a phoenix. Wait. He looked over his right shoulder and saw waves of dark blue and black cascading right over his shoulders. Raven Wing had a knack for knowing when Nexus was going for a flight. Nexus snickered and flapped his wings a few times to pick up speed. As the two of them came around the southern face of the mountain, the waterfall coming from Canterlot came into view. Nexus started flapping his wings faster, picking up more speed. His air speed indicator passed 350mph as the roar of the falls came through the whistling of the wind.

As he came closer, Raven Wing pulled back a few yards. The waterfall was right on top of him now. The spray washed over him as his left wing sliced though the surface of the cascading water. If he was a normal Pegasus, he would have Dutch Rolled into the water and fallen several thousand feet to his death. His mechanical wings were twice as strong as normal but were also twice as heavy. As he passed the waterfall, Raven Wing came line abreast on Nexus’ right wing as he slowed back to 250mph. Nexus came around the east side of the mountain, Nexus looked back over his shoulder and smiled at Raven Wing.

“Follow this!” Nexus shouted.

While still flying close to the face of the mountain, Nexus rolled right until he was upside down and dove along face of the mountain. The airspeed indicator rose past 600, then 700 as he flapped his wings harder. There was a loud, low boom as he broke the sound beerier. Knowing if he didn’t slowdown now he would be going straight through to Tartarus. He fully extended his wings and let the air catch the artificial feathers. The frame extended small metal blades to increase the surface area that was catching the air as he pulled back. The airspeed indicator had already passed bellow 300 he pulled up next to the railroad as the train came out of the tunnel. He passed the train relatively easily.

In the far back however, a strange looking passenger as under lock and key in the caboose. Ephialtes sat in the back right corner of the train car with eight Lunar Guards starring right at him. His purple-blue, serpent eyes cautiously passed over the passengers seated in the car with him.

“I still don’t understand why The Commander is giving you this chance.” one of them said.

“You should know better then to question The Commander by now. He’s never been wrong about recommendations.”

“Oh really?” Ephialtes said chiming in.

“No one’s talking to you.” the first guard said.

“Last I checked, you said, while looking me right in the face; I still don’t understand why The Commander is giving you this chance.”

“Shut up!”

“Just saying.”

“Yeah, The Commander always has something to say about somepony. Usually it’s advice. And his advice is always worth taking.” the guard next to the one that started this butted in.

“Is it now?”

“Always.”

“So he’s never given bad advice?”

“Nope. Some ponies think he can read minds, but that’s dark magic. I know his specialty is dark magic, but that’s too dark.”

“I don’t know. Have you heard what he did to Captain Storm Cloud last April Fools Day?” the guard next to Ephialtes said.

“No, what?”

“Storm said that he had a nightmare about his grandmother.”

“What was she doing?”

“Cloud kind of just gags when he tries to tell anypony.”

“Then I don’t wanna know.”

“Heard he didn’t talk to The Commander for a week after that.”

“Sounds like fun.” Ephialtes said sarcastically.

“Hey! You better feel privileged that The Commander is sticking his neck out for you!” the first guard snapped back.

“Why do you people keep calling him the Commander? Why not just his name?”

“He runs a tight shift around here buddy. We all call him The Commander because he told us to.”

“Anything else I should know?”

“Yeah. You see him in uniform, you better be standing at attention and calling him Sir.”

“And why’s that?”

“I think it’s better if you find out for yourself.”

The breaks squealed as the train pulled into the station.

“Get up. Time to get to the academy.”