One year, it seemed like an eternity during the rebuilding.  But none the less, everypony was happy at the renewal of their once more prosperous land.  Ponyville saw the greatest recovery as ponies of all ages happily went back to familiar shops, some having even been renovated and increased in size.  Even though ponies were happy, one gave off the illusion of happiness but was deeply troubled.  Twilight Sparkle sat in her library going over calculations after calculations of arcane readings and experiments, but they all came back positive.  Twilight had been greatly distressed since the day she had almost taken HIS life with his own sword.  That day she felt not only frightened, but furious to the point of her rage turning into something much worse.  When that had occurred she had felt….good, and it scared her.  Could she have almost succumbed to the same darkness Luna was once possessed by?  Or maybe perhaps, an even worse evil than that was now growing within her.  Twilight hoped she was wrong, that it had merely been nothing more than some sort of magical fluctuation.  But the readouts claimed she now had a malevolent energy within her, similar to the signatures that had existed in Sombra and Nightmare.  It was the sign of evil and if she wasn’t careful, it would grow larger.

Twilight jumped slightly when her clock chimed, “Oh sweet Celestia I’m LATE!”

Twilight quickly grabbed her saddle bags and a letter before rushing out the door.  As she rushed down the street to the train station she rounded the corner to reveal…her friends.

“Hello darling, heading off somewhere?”

Twilight was nervously shuffling, “Um…yeah.  I’m just going to visit my mom and dad, no biggy.”

Rainbow snatched the letter from her saddle bags and read who it was addressed to, “Twilight!”

“Ah thought we agreed that you should stop torturin yourself like this,” she placed a hoof on her with a concerned look, “He’s not your responsibility.”

Twilight sighed, “And I keep telling YOU that he is in a way,” she yanked the letter from Dash, “Besides…he needs somepony to-“

Rainbow Dash waved her front legs in exasperation, “To what?!  The guy was…is a monster.  I say let him stew in the hole he dug for himself,” she hovered above her friend, “Need I remind you of what he did to Lillyhoof?  To all the other ponies after he employed the Brazen Ponies?!”

Applejack silenced her as ponies picked up on the conversation and stared, “We’re not the only ones who think so sugarcube.  A lot of other ponies are still sore on the subject of,” she noticed a few other ponies lingering, “you know who.”

“He has a name Applejack,” Twilight looked to the side.

Rarity snorted slightly, “A name that’s spoken like a curse word or in private.”

Twilight shook her head, “Regardless, I’m going to see him,” she looked at the letter with the spidery handwriting, “he deserves to read this.”

Pinkie Pie nodded, “Normally I’m not one to refuse a smile to a pony, but in his case….,” it almost pained her to speak the two words, “buck him.”

Pinkie then proceeded to wash out her mouth as Fluttershy looked at the letter, “Who’s it from?”

Twilight only spoke nine words, “It arrived in a burst of ruby red fire.”

Rainbow Dash grumbled, “So the little guy is still alive and kicking.”

“Ah’m actually curious where he and the Queen went off to,” Applejack pondered upon this as Twilight walked past them.

“I’m going and that’s final,” she glanced back, “and I would appreciate it if you all respected my decision.”

Her friends were surprised at the statement but sighed collectively in reluctance.

Applejack stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak but put on a small smile, “Jus…be careful.”

Twilight smiled, “Thank you girls.”

*

The train ride was silent but held a sense of dread in the air.  As Twilight exited the tunnel, she noticed out the window the valley where the battle to gain entry to the castle was fought.  On its soil was a mass of marble white grave markers that had the names of their owners upon them.  Twilight looked to the repaired city and smiled at its familiar buildings as she disembarked.  She traveled the streets to the main gate and entered the main hall.  Sighing, the alicorn steeled herself and approached one of the guards with what confidence she could muster.

The guard nodded, “Princess Twilight,” he noted her saddle bags, “I assume that you have come to see…him.”

“Yes,” she tilted her head with concern, “Has there been any change?”

The guard shook his head, “None.”

The guard led the alicorn through the mountainous halls and decided to cut through the main hall to shorten the route.  They passed the stained glass windows that now lay peacefully within new frames.  The latest edition depicted the army of Equestria standing victorious in the sun, while a dark shape garbed in gold lay below them in shadow.  Twilight looked to the side and sighed, the memories flooding back to her.  True the day had been won, but the cost leading to it had been great.  Many of the kingdoms cried for the human’s blood that Celestia refused to give them.  Regardless of his actions, he was still on Equestrian soil and under the protection of its laws.  If any attempt was made upon Jasper’s life, it would be considered an act of war, which Celestia would not be afraid to answer.  

Twilight to this day didn’t know why her teacher still sought to protect Jasper.  Once she had even asked why she would put herself in the line of fire from the other races.

Celestia merely gave a small smile and responded calmly, “When you are where I am now, you shall understand.”

Twilight though still confused, did not question her mentor’s judgement.  Her attention returned to the present as she took in the area around her.  Only once had she seen the Canterlot dungeons, it was when Cadance and her were playing hide and seek.  She had decided to flee below and hid in a cell, it took Cadance all day to find the frightened filly of which she later soothed with her embrace.  The dungeons had been built both under the castle and within the mountain itself, so light coming in from the surface was severely limited.  The dark and smooth stones were a shine with moisture, the gentle dripping reached Twilight’s ears as the guard stood before her upon the landing.

“I will wait nearby my lady,” he bowed his head, “call if you have need of me.”

Twilight inclined her head and continued on.  Small torches illuminated her path as she walked through the dark halls; the cell she was going to was further back from the others.  She glanced at the empty cells she passed, mere shells that lacked contents but craved to be filled.  Her gaze came to rest at the last cell at the end of the furthest most rows, the darkness within stirred slightly.  Twilight inhaled calmly and approached, the door was far larger than the others spanning the length of a massive window composed of iron bars.  She pulled a cushion in front of the door and sat gently on her haunches and stared within in silence.  Soft breathing was heard from within, to which she looked to the ground at before leveling her stare at the darkness and lighting up her horn.

“Good afternoon Jasper.”

Against the far wall sat a shape, a sad and loathsome shape of a man who didn’t move.  The shape though lean had lost some muscle, but not all.  He now had long ash hair that descended past his shoulders in an unkempt torrent obscuring his face from view.  He was garbed in dirty and tattered pinstripe prison clothes, no shoes or socks were upon his bare and dirtied feet which twitched slightly.  His arms lay limply at his sides, either he was weak or had not bothered to move them.  The light revealed that his knuckles were red and covered in dried blood, similar splotches decorated the room.  His cell was also visibly destroyed, bed and all.  The magic light reached the man who glanced up, his hollow storm bluish green eyes staring at the Alicorn with no emotion to speak of.  Fuzz adorned his face in a weak looking beard which was streaked with dirt.

The voice that responded was airy but held some volume, “Did you know I turned twenty-one last month?”

Twilight smiled slightly, “OH!  Well happy birthday then.”

Jasper looked to the side refusing to meet her gaze, “What do you want.”

Twilight felt her heart ache but she held firm, “I-I received a letter from…well…you know.”

Jasper looked at her and spoke firmly, “Give it to me.”

Twilight levitated the letter through the bars which Jasper plucked from the air with amazing speed.  He opened the envelope and unfurled the note which was written upon yellowing parchment.  Jasper’s eyes scanned the paper like a predator and sighed with a shaky breath.

“My heir…,” his voice was distant, “…it’s been born…yet she refuses to say more.  Good.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in both curiosity and intrigue at the fact that a child was born of both an Equestrian and Earthling, oh how desperately she wanted to know more.  But she didn’t want to pry, she merely sat and looked on at Jasper who then lowered the note and gazed into nothing.

“Twilight,” he spoke softly, “though I’ve been here for a while.  I’ve heard tell among the guards that much has happened in my absence….could you…tell me of these exploits?”

Twilight gave a warm smile, “Of course,” she looked to the side and noted a dead piece of vegetation near the cell door; “For starters, I think you might want to know where all those vines came from.”

Jasper nodded still looking into the distance, “Yes…I would like that….”

*

As tales were told at Canterlot, a different yarn was being spun within the Griffon Kingdom.  Word had reached Queen Brighton, sister of the deceased Silver Wing, that a possible location of Queen Chrysalis had been found.  This gave Brighton joy to no end, the mere fact that she could deal such a blow to the one who had taken her sister from her made her restless.  The entirely snow white griffon in silver royal armor smiled as the messenger finished her report.

“Excellent,” she placed her talons together, “Captain, mobilize the troops would you?”

The captain nodded and went to the grand doors, only to freeze at the sound of an ear splitting scream from the other side of them.  The doors burst open as black fog surged into the room accompanied by the now dead body of the griffon messenger.  All remained silent as the fog dissipated; standing within the fog was a creature that surprised the queen, a human.  The human however was unlike what she had been told.  It was garbed in head to toe in armor of some form.  The armor plates seemed to be a mix of organic and metal in terms of appearance.  Each plate was a dark almost black acidic green the armor covered the creature’s legs up to its knees, its arms to the shoulders and its torso.  On the top of each hand seemingly bonded to the gloves it wore were magenta flesh orbs that gave an ominous glow.  Underneath and visible on the unarmoured parts of the human was a black flesh material that covered it in a form fitting body suit, dark magenta veins spanned it’s surface.  Its face was a different story.  The mouth and nose area were covered by a plate of the armor like some form of mouth guard, and two glowing orbs of magenta energy glared at the Queen.  The hair and ears of the human were covered by the black flesh material.

Brighton glared at the human, “Who are you?”

The human spoke two words, “Your executioner.”

From the humans back a mass of bladed tentacles made of both the armor material and body suit, surged at the queen.