When I regain consciousness I find myself laying on a cot in the yard outside of the main structure. I sit up and look around to see that I'm one of many people laying on cots. Others seems to have bloody bandages on different parts of their body, while others are dead. I was about to get up when a pain erupted from my stomach. I'm starving. I'm so hungry that it's painful. I need something, anything, to eat.

"MILES!" I look over to see Storm running over to me. He has a satchel on his side and is out of his armor.

"Storm... what happened?" I ask as he comes to a stop before me.

"Don't worry about that right now. You're starving right?" He asks as he pulls out an apple from his bag. I take it and devour it on a matter of seconds, relishing in the feeling of having the food in my stomach. "Thought so. That's one of his powers, making you hungrier then you've ever been. Look, I'm going to give you a few more apples, but please try to take it slow. They had to wrestle me away from the food storage." He says as he drops a few more apples onto my lap.

"I'll try." I say before taking another one and eating it.

"Great, look. I've got some running around to do. Just relax and wait for me to get back here." He says before running into the crowd of griffins. I finish the apple, eating the core as well, and start the next one as I look around.

The fight after Famine left must of been crazy. Hundreds of griffin city guards are marching around, collecting whatever there is to collect. I can see a few piles of corpses on fire, most of them being Darkness members. Once the fort was in view, Flionence must of sent reinforcements to aid us. I look beside me to see Dust Devil laying beside me. Though II thought she was dead, I can see that she only suffered a cut along her side. She's asleep right now, but I can see she's having trouble breathing. I finish up my apple before I go for my magic. I figure if I'm going to sit here, I may as well be useful.

"The fuck?" I ask as I look over the flames in my hands. They're half the size they usually are. I look between Dust Devil and my hands before I shrug and give it a try. I figure the worst that'll happen is me tiring out sooner then usual. I lay my palms on her side and start to feed healing magic into her. Immediately I can see a difference. Normally, my magic would rush through and wash the problems away. This way, I have to fight every scratch and every imperfection as if they're the actual problem.

"Miles! What do you think you're doing!" Storm yells as he and Shinning come running up to me. I'm about a quarter of the way through and my lines are already up to my shoulders. When she wakes up, gasping for air, I drop the magic, panting from the strenuous work. She sits up and looks around before looking over to me and eyeing me a bit.

"Did.... did we just have sex?" She asks as she looks over to Storm and Shinning. I fall back as I let the lines fade away. Is this what its like to be normal? Becuase this is horrible.

"Miles, don't do anything stupid for a bit, OK?" Shinning says as Storm gives me a water canteen.

"I promise nothing." I say before taking a drink. "How long until we get back to Equestria..."

"Well..."

"Becuase Luna's in danger, so I need to get to Canterlot."

"Actually." Regina says as she joins our group. "I just got a letter from her, she's safe now thanks to Alistair."

"WOO! Go Alistair." Dust Devil says as she throws her hooves up. "What? He did good." She says as she looks at all of us. "You guys are no fun."

"Anyway," Regina says as she looks back to me, "I have transportation arrangements for later today. So just relax and try to get your strength back..."

"Sir!" A royal guard says as he approaches Shinning. He excuses himself before going with the guard.

"How are you?" I ask as I sit back up. "I saw you take a pretty hard hit."

"Yeah... I'll be good. I just needed some food... and maybe some therapy." She says, making us both chuckle.

I look around some more before asking, "Where's Big Mac?"

"The griffins have him in intensive care, along with some other surviving ponies." Storm explains as he takes a seat in front of me. "Though they've healed him mostly, he's still receiving treatment. The toxin they stabbed him with is countering most healing treatments, but he's starting to pull through."

"Egg breaking bastard." Regina mumbles as she punches the ground. "I can't wait for the day we get Steelwing. He's going to pay for what he's done." She grows as she looks away from us.

"He will, we just need to get smarter." I say as I grab another apple and start to eat it. "We forgot that this fight isn't one sided. We need to cover all of our bases before we move again, unless we want similar results. Did we get any prisoners?"

"No." Regina says with a sigh. "Every single Darkness member here fought to the end. Even when they were out numbered, they would fight with no regard to their own life. We tried to cripple a few to force them to be prisoners, but they just committed suicide."

"It was a real mess." Storm adds.

"Hey." Dust Devil says, getting our attention. "Didn't Famine say hello to you?" She says as she points a hoof to Storm.

"Oh yeah, what was that about?" I add.

"He's been... haunting me, kind of. Occasionally I would see or hear him in my head." He says as he looks away from me.

"Ok." I say as I start my next apple.

"OK?" Dust Devil says, confused. "Your Lieutenant has been compromised and OK is your response. You aren't worried that he'll turn against you or give out information?"

"First off, he hasn't been compromised. I know Storm, he's my best friend. If he was compromised I would see a difference. Then there's the fact that he's a Spartan. Even thought they could defect, its still a very low chance. I've been in his mind, I'd know if he's defecting."

".....so are you guys coltfriends then?" She asks, getting Regina to laugh.

"No." Storm says flatly. "We're just friends."

"He broke my heart." I add, getting Regina to lose it.

"Whoa... OK then, wasn't expecting that. Is Big Mac gay to?" Dust Devil asks, making Storm facehoof and Regina fall to the ground laughing.

"Fist off, we aren't gay. And secondly we all have wives, some of which are expecting." He says with a large smile.

"............... wait...... what? Fluttershy's pregnant?" I ask as I look around.

.................................................................................................................................................................................................

After the two large dragons had left I had Alistair escort me to the medical ward. Thankfully he’s the size of a teenage dragon, he could come inside as well. Celestia had decided to come along, but I kept ignoring her questions as I took a seat on one of the examining tables. As we went, I made sure to send Regina a letter, telling her and Miles that I was fine. Though I expect Miles to still show up...

“Luna, please. Just, can you tell me you’re OK at least?” Celestia asks for the hundredth time. I just glance over to her before looking away again. “Luna! I…”

“Princess Luna.” The doctor says as she walks over to me, levitating a tray of bandages and other medical equipment. “We will get started now. Please let us know if there is anything hidden that we should take a look at.”

“Of course.” I say as she gets started. I feel slight discomfort from her treating my wounds, but I keep quiet until she finishes up. Celestia and Alistair stayed by my side the entire time. Celestia looking scared and worried while Alistair just stared off into the distance. The doctor spends the next few hours fixing my wounds and checking my health, running test and getting X-rays.

"Alright, that should do it." The doctor says as she finishes up. I glance back to myself to see that my body is covered in bandages and my right wing has also been wrapped up as well. "Please avoid using magic for another week. Your power seems to be fluctuating rather... dramatically, not to mention...well... its going away from the wound."

"What does that mean?" Celestia asks, glancing back to me with concern.

"Well, a ponies power usually flows towards a wound, but hers seems to be going away from it. I can't make sense of it." The doctor explains as she flips through some charts. "Do you have any clues as to why this would happen?"

"No, I can't think of anything that would do this." I admit after some thought. "Alistair, could this be something that the rainbow of darkness did?" I ask.

"No." He stated simply, looking down to me. "The only thing that could do this is if something changed your soul. My guess is that your soul has changed." He explains, moving towards around my bed as he stares off into the distance. "Excuse me Luna, I must... check on something."

"OK then. I will be heading back to my room..."

"Luna wait." Celestia says as she steps in front of me. I just glare at her as she tries to find the words to say. "I.... I'm sorry."

"For?"

"*sigh* you were right. I was wrong to separate you and Miles, and I was wrong to hire those mercenaries to keep an eye on you. I let my fear of losing you cloud my judgement and...though I still feel the same way, I am sorry." She says as she lowers her head down a bit.

"And what do you wish to do to atone for this?" I ask as I get out of the bed and face her.

"I.... well..."

"First off, you will levy your little restrictions on me. I will be able to see who I want, when I want."

"Very well..."

"And you will tell Miles what you planned on doing and ask for his forgiveness."

"Of course sister..."

"And you will drop your diet for a week." I add with a smile.

"What! I will not." Celestia yells as she looks me in the face. I just keep smiling until she sighs in defeat. "Why do you like to torture me so much."

"Becuase I'm your sister and I love you." I say, getting her to look up to me and smile. We move in and hug each other tightly. "I missed you sister."

"As did I." She whispers back. "Please, let us never fight like this agai..."

"Your highness?" A guard says, getting our attention. "If you please..."

"Please. My sister and I need..."

"Las Pegasis has been destroyed."

.................................................................................................................................................................................................

After eating so many apples that they had to hide them from me, I decided to distract myself by walking through the injured people. Many had died during the fight, but luckily our numbers were low. Looking back to the main structure, I finally notice how much damage was done. The closest wall is still standing, mostly, but the rest have fallen outward. This has made the rest of the building collapse on top of itself, turning the structure to a pile of ruble.

"Its too bad it fell apart." Camo Flash says as he walks up beside me. "Would have been able to get some serious loot from there."

"Yeah..."

"You wouldn't happen to have any food on you, would you?"

"Sorry, ate it all." I say as I walk towards the building. I could of sworn I saw something moving behind the still standing wall. I walk around the wall and take another look around... there's nothing here. I stand her for a bit longer before I finally give up and....

"Salve." Says a shimmer before me. I try to look harder at it, but I can only make out a figure of a pony. All of the inner details are just a grey shimmer of energy. I look around and back up behind the wall, so I don't look crazy as I talk to this...

"Quid es?" I ask as I continue to try to make more of it out.

"A spiritum. Potes me videre?" It asks as it floats around me.

"Vix. Quid agis hic?" I ask as it starts to float away. It pauses in the air and looks back to me... or at least I think it does.

"Enim nostra commentariis. Praecave, lucidum unum." It says before fading away.

"Mora! Qui estes? Tu quid morandis? Ibi sunt alii similis tibi?" I ask, but am ignored as it disappears from sight. "FUTUO!"

"Miles?" I look behind me to see Shinning standing behind me. "Who are you talking to?"

"*sigh* I'm not sure." I say as I continue to look out at the rubble.

"Well... get you things, we need to get going. Las Pegasus has been destroyed...."

"What!?" I yell as I look back to him. "Destroyed? What happened?" I ask as I approach him.

"I don't know the details yet. All I know is that Las Pegasus is now clear skies and a lot of ponies have been hurt, possibly killed. Our transportation is here..."

"Then lets go." I say as I walk out past him. As soon as I walk around the wall I see our transportation. Its another one of those air balloons, but this one is much smaller. It probably only has one lower deck and one balloon holding it up. On both of its sides are large fans that are set up to some kind of bicycle system.

"Its smaller, but can make the trip in half the time." Shinning says as we walk up to it.

"Good, then lets get going." I say as I start to walk out towa...

KA-KRUUUUM

I stop and look up to see storm clouds starting to form above us. Usually they don't form this quickly, but in a matter of seconds the sky becomes grey. Shinning and I look to each other before we run over to Regina.

"Regina, whats going on?" Shinning asks as we approach her. She, as well as a few guards, are standing beside the ship; staring up at the sky.

"I don't know. We aren't suppose to have rain today. But we'll have to leave it to the guards. We need to get going." She says as she walks up the planks. Shinning and I look to one another before following her up.

As we took off through the air, I look back to see that the clouds are slowly starting to turn green...

The trip back was, tedious. To ensure that we made it back as quickly as possible we all took turns working the fans. Luckily, they were enchanted to turn out more then what you put in, but it still was enduring. At the end of the first day was when I my power finally went back to normal. After that, I fixed our injured in a matter of a couple of hours. Once they were fixed up, we had fresh bodies to work the fans.

Crescent Cove is in view, so we've picked up pace by putting Storm and Big Mac on the fans. Their suits make this thing nearly double their speed, which is good. We need speed right now. Too much is going on right now. Las Pegasus is gone apparently, The Darkness is still out there, Lunas' life is in constant threat, I'll need to do another citizens meeting to talk about what happened in Flionence, and the entire time we've been traveling that ghost thing has been following us. I tried to speak to it, but every time it just fazes away.

"Bring her down!" Yells the griffin captain, making them run over to the furnace and open all of the hatches. I've been keeping an eye on all of them. After what happened to Lars, I don't trust anyone I don't know.

"Storm, Big Mac, with me!" I yell as I head to the bow of the ship. They jump down from their seat and follow after me, panting slightly from the work. "We might need to ship out to Las Pegasus."

"What? But that's Equestrian business." Storm says as he takes a seat and wipes the sweat from his brow. "We need..."

"Our business is the order and goodwill of the world. We go where we are needed." I say, silencing him. "First things first though, we need to go to Canterlot to get some intel. I doubt that whoever did this is still there after two days, so we'll need to see what information there is before we begin our search."

"Do ya think its the Darkness?" Big Mac asks.

"Kind of. They fit the motive, but it seems... out of character." I say as I look out at the horizon. I know they want to kill everyone, but this just seems... too small for them.

"What do you mean? Killing thousands of ponies seems just like them." Storm says.

"Yes and no. If that was the method they were going to use, why didn't they do it for Flionence?" I ask, looking back to them.

"Well... maybe they're working with the griffins?" Storm suggests.

"NNope. Iffin they were workin with the griffins, they would have gone after a ground city. Just so they can take it fer themselves." Big Mac says. We all fall silent as we think about whats going on. I don't like it.

"Look, lets just get to Canterlot and hear whats going on from Luna or Celestia. Then we'll act." I say, getting nods in response.

As soon as we landed we made off for my jeep, taking the remaining Equestrians along as well. I drove there as quickly as possible, not wanting to stop for anything until we made to Canterlot. Once we made it, Shinning and I went straight for the court hall while the others waited at the front. Once we made it to the court hall, we found Celestia talking with Blueblood.

"You? What are you doing here?" Blueblood says accusingly to me.

"Good to see you to Blueblood." Shinning says as he approaches Celestia. "What the report on Las Pegasus?" He asks with a bow.

"Shinning... Miles. Las Pegasus was a total loss. Our reports say it was the fault of one of the foundation workers. They were... slacking, and when a powerful typhoon came by... well." She says as a letter appears in front of her. I recognize the energy being from Spike. As she starts to read it over Shinning and I look to each other.

"That's it." I say, taking a step towards her. "An accident. An entire city is gone and its an accident. Sorry Celestia, but I don't buy it." I say, crossing my arms.

"I'm sorry Princess, but I'm having doubts about this as well." Shinning adds. Celestia glances up from her letter before setting it down to address us.

"I've already sent ponies to investigate this matter, and they've all told me the same thing. Look, I understand that its... unbelievable, but this is what happened. I appreciate your eagerness to help, but there is nothing to do but to rebuild. Now I'm sorry to cut this meeting short, but I have some business to attend to." She says before returning to her letter.

"As you say Princess." Shinning says with a bow. I just sigh and turn back....

"Actually, Miles. May I have a word with you." Celestia says, getting me to stop. I turn back to her and wait. She takes a few breaths, trying to find the right words to say to me. "Miles... I... I haven't been.... I've... well..." She stumbles.

"This is about those mercenaries, isn't it?" I ask, getting a nod from her.

"Yes. I hired them with the intent of killing you. Luna has stopped them from doing this, but that doesn't change what I tried to do. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, as well as some other things. I haven't been myself lately, and I am sorry for that. I promise to do better by you, and... I am giving you permission to speak with my sister again. Just know that I still feel the same way. Please do not make me regret this."

After she says all of this I come to the realization that she still doesn't know Luna and I are married. I let out an irritated sigh as I rub the back of my neck. She did say a month, this must be a part of what she's planning. I look back to her to see that shes on the edge of her seat, waiting for my response. I let out a chuckle as I start to approach her, getting her guards to confront me.

"No, let him." Celestia says as I get face to face with her. I stare into her eyes for a bit before I let out another chuckle and remover her tiara.

"You want to know the irony of this?" I ask as I look it over.

"Whats that?" Celestia asks nervously.

"You sought to remove me from your life." I say as I look over the etching on the back. "Cum vobis semper. Like it or not, I'll always be a part of your life...."

"For however long your life is that is." Celestia and I go wide eyed as a large vortex of black smoke appears in the center of the room. I pull out my sword and send my energy into it as Celestia creates her energy claymore. When the energy disappears, whats left standing makes my blood boil. "Hello Miles, we haven't been introduced yet, I.. am Pestilence, and I have a message." She says as she steps towards us.

"Guards, arrest her!" Celestia shouts, getting them all to fly at her. She holds up her hands and looks over her long black finger nails, uninterested in the attacking guards. I watch as she swipes her hands back and forth, hitting flesh and metal alike, both with dramatic results.

When she hits metal, it rusts away in a matter of seconds. When she hits flesh, it shrivels up and becomes sickly. Either turning different unhealthy colors or just graying as the life withers away from them. In a matter of seconds she kills all of the guards, leaving withered husks all around her.

"Now, where was I?" She says as she looks back to us. I move to her left as Celestia takes the right, being cautious not to touch her. "Don't worry, I'm just here to send a message of peace..."

"PEACE!" Celestia yells. "You come here and kill six of my guards and you want peace..."

"I gave them the greatest peace of all." Pestilence interrupts. "I have given them a blessing far superior then anything you could ever hope to achieve. Envy them."

"If that's the kind of peace you wish to give us then you can go fuck yourself." I say before stabbing at the ground, making a row of earthen blades pop up. She swipes an arm at the ground, sending a wave of a black cloud at the ground.

BOOM

A small explosion stops any of the earthen blades from harming her. Celestia and I were about to attack when a green aura picked us both up. I try to move out of its grasp, but the field holds me completely still.

"Behave yourself Miles." I look behind me to see Famine appear in the room, his horn glowing brightly.

"Now, as I was saying..." Pestilence says as she starts to walk around the two of us. "War has been... brash. We intended to wait longer, but his actions accelerated things. But with that, we will move our plans accordingly. Miles, goodbye. We shall vanish from the land, our jobs are done.... for now. Do not look for us, you will not find us. Spend the rest of you lives happy with your families. We shall be spreading the blessings of our god, Death until the day of reckoning comes to earth. Take care, and farewell."

FLASH

As we drop to the ground, the two of them disappear from the room.

"Are you OK?" I ask as I run over to Celestia and help her up. As she gets up, she lights her horn and closes her eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine... I... I can't find them. Their energy is too well hidden." She says as she shuts off her magic and looks back to me. "What did she mean by the blessings of their god?"

"I don't know, but that's not what concerns me." I say as I sheath my sword and turn to her. "I'm more worried about the peace she was talking about."

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