After a rather fun and light heartened lunch Shadow and I decide to head home. It was good to see Shadow open up with Applebloom finally, I can tell they're going to be good friends. Hopefully the rest of them get along just as well.

"I'd say its time for a nap, don't you think?" I ask as she lets out another yawn.

"I'm good." She says sleepily. Yeah right. As we approach home I spot Spike sitting on the porch, waiting patiently.

"Shadow, don't freak out about the dragon. He's alright." I warn her making her look up at Spike.

"Well.... OK. If you say so." She says nervously as she slows down. "Do I have to meet more ponies today? I think I hit my quota for the day."

"Well... him and a few more and that's it. Promise." I say as Spike walks up to us.

"Hey Miles, who's the kid?" He asks as he offers to take a few of the bags. I give him a few and walk up to the porch.

"Spike, this is Shadow. Shadow, this is Spike. He's my apprentice in magic." I say as they stare at each other.

"Uh... hi." Spike says as he rubs the back of his neck. "Why do you have a foal following you around?"

"Well, I'm taking care of her now. I found her in Detrot and... long story short, I'm her family now." I say as I look down to her. She offers me a smile, but doesn't say anything. "Come on, lets put this stuff inside before we start our lesson." I say as I open...

"BARK BARK BARK!"

"DOGGY!" Shadow screams as Hati and Lupus knock me down and run me over to get to her.

"Doggy?" Spike questions as they get to work licking her face. I just moan as I get up and move inside. I need to make something for them to get in and out of the house without running me over

. After a few minutes of opening things up and setting them where they belong we finally head out back to start training. Shadow decided that she wanted to watch, so I had her sit on the side lines. I had Spike demonstrate what he could do with fire and all he was able to do was create flames.

"Well... its better then nothing... I guess." I say as I flare my hands. "Let move on then. The next part is going to be a little more difficult. Memory."

"Memory?"

"Yes. What I'm going to teach you is a more advance skill, but it will help you remember everything I've taught you. Once you learn this, you will not only be able to reach your own memory, but the memories of others. This is a great responsibility Spike. Do not abuse this power." I warn him, getting him to nod slowly. I motion to him to sit down as I do so, crossing my legs.

"What is a memory Spike?"

"Its... what you remember." He tries.

"Explain that. How do you remember?"

"Well... I don't know. Its just something I do." He says with a shrug.

"Memories are created through emotions, sights, sounds, tastes, anything that effects you. I remember who you are because you are purple. I remember that Luna likes the stars because of how happy she was telling me about them. I remember my hatred of the Unfamiliar because of the anguish they've caused me. I remember that I like spaghetti because of the taste of it. Its part of how we learn as well. What do you remember from your lessons on fire?"

"Well... I remember you telling me it was energy. Then I just felt for it and released it..."

"Touch. Good. What else?"

"Once I got it out I was... happy? I was glad to finally be able to do it. But... it felt like a part of me finally fell into place, making me feel whole."

"That would be your soul. Learning human magic is intense. That feeling of connecting with yourself is unparalleled. Close your eyes." I tell him, getting him to close his eyes. "Think of the happiest moment of your life. Focus on it. What do you remember?"

"Well..."

"Take your time. Make sure the moment was one of pure bliss." I warn him, getting him to nod to me.

"Mom." He whispers as a small smile grows on his face.

"Good, focus on that feeling. Don't lose it." I tell him quietly as I get up. "I want to to stay here and focus on that feeling. It doesn't matter what memory you use, just keep that ideological at heart..."

"All night." Spike moans as he looks up to me. "But what about when it gets dark?"

"Well, I was going to allow you to move inside, but since you decided to complain about it, you get to do it on the roof. Get to it." He lets out a quick huff before getting up and flying up to the roof. I look over to find Shadow sitting there, eyes closed with a smile. I move over to her and take a seat as quietly as possible.

"I think Lantern Light would of liked you Miles." She says quietly as she keeps her eyes shut. "She usually liked the good ones..."

"Shadow, I want to do something for you. But in order for it to work, I would need to go inside your mind. Is that OK with you?" She doesn't say anything. Instead she just lowers her head a bit and nods to me. I flare my hands and surround my fingers in the white flames.

"Will it hurt?"

"No. Just keep those happy thoughts in mind, this wont take long." I take a long breath before slowly pushing my way into her subconscious.

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

Since her mind was focused on one memory, I find myself observing it. We're in a dark room, the sound of sleeping ponies filling he back. In front of me is Shadow and whom I presume to be Lantern Light sharing a bed. Shadow looks to be very young, a toddler at best, while Lantern looks only a bit older.

"Lantern...."

"Shhh... I'm right here." She says as she pulls her closer and nuzzles her forehead a bit.

"I miss mama and papa." Shadow cries quietly.

"I know. I do to. Don't worry though, I'll take care of you from now on."

"But... what if they try to separate us?" Shadow asks as she latches onto Lantern. "I don't want to lose you to..."

"You wont. I've worked out a deal for us to stay here. We'll never be separated, I promise little sister. I love you Shadow."

"*sniff* I love you Lig..."

"Light." A deep voice calls from the back. "It's time."

"O....OK. I'll be right there." She says nervously. She looks back to Shadow and gives her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm going to step outside for a bit to talk to the forepony for a bit. Just lay down and go to sleep, OK. I'll be right back." She says as she starts to get up.

"But..."

"No buts. It's way past your bed time anyway. Goodnight Shadow." She says before walking through the crowded room towards the dark figure in the door way. She takes a moment to look back before closing the door behind her, heading down to what I could only imagine to be the beginning of something horrible.

"Hmm... oh!" Shadow exclaims quietly before reaching under the bed. She pulls out a piece of paper and some crayons and starts to draw under the moon light. She goes through a few drafts before finally settling on a sketch of her and Lantern. Next she starts to fold the piece of paper until it makes a diamond.

Just as she puts the final touches on it, the door opens up to reveal Lantern. She stumbles in until she finds the bed, where she collapses onto the side and curls up into a ball and gasps a few times, trying not to cry.

"Lantern..."

"Shadow? I thought I told you to go to bed." She says as she strains to not cry.

"I know, but then I had an idea. Here, this is for." She says as she shows her the folded diamond paper. Lantern takes the diamond and starts to open the diamond, showing the picture within.

"Shadow...."

"Remember when Mama showed us how to make these? I remember just for you, do you like it?" She says as she puts it in her hooves.

"*sniff* its perfect." She says before pulling Shadow in for a hug.

"Please don't be mad, but I used the last of our paper to make it." Shadow says as she hugs her sister back, making her giggle.

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

I pull back from the memory and have to move a bit, trying to stay strong for Shadow.

"Whoa... that was weird." She says as she rubs her head. "Did you get what you needed?"

"Yeah... yeah I did." I say as I look back to her. She shrugs and offers me a smile as she rubs the back of her neck as I try to think of a way to make this work. "Shadow... come over here a sec." I say as I turn and walk towards the center of the clearing.

"Oh, OK." She says nervously as she follows after me. I take a moment to think about how I'm going to do this before I kneel down and lay my hands on the ground. I pull out some earth and forge it into a small diamond. Next, I enchant it to move the same way the paper one did.

"OK, almost done, just follow me inside." I say as I try to hide it from her.

"OK, what is it though?" She asks as she tries to take a look.

"Don't worry, you'll see soon enough." I say as I step inside. I go through almost everything until I finally decide to take some gems out of a random light from the living room. I disenchant it and set an image from her memory inside before setting it in the diamond. "OK, close your eyes." I tell her as I kneel down. She scrunches up her face as she holds her eyes shut, practically shaking with anticipation. I grab her hoof and put the diamond in it, making her open her eyes.

"Is... is this..."

"Open it." She opens it up, making a hologram of the memory appear above the opening. "I figured you could use something in memory of Lantern Light. I know what its like to lose family, every memory counts. Trust me." She stares at the picture of her and her sister holding each other for a bit before she closes it and tackles me in a hug.

"Thank you." She mumbles as she silently cries. I lift her up and hold her as she continues to cry.

"HI MILES!"

"GAH!" Shadow and I yell as I fall back. I look back to see Pinkie standing in the door way with....

"IS THAT A CANON?!" I yell as I jump back to my feet.

"It's my party canon, duh." She says as she pushes it into the living room. "How else am I going to get set up in twenty minutes?"

KRA-BOOM

She pushes the button on top, sending confetti, streamer, and punch bowls flying all around the living room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I yell as I start to pull on my hair. Some how all of the stuff had landed where they would need to go, attach themselves perfectly, and not spill a single drop.

"WE'RE HERE!" I look over to see a crowd of ponies streaming through the front door. Most of them I recognize, but there are a few I don't.

"STORM! BIG MAC! Restrain Miles! Sweetie Bell, Applebloom, Scootaloo, get Shadow!" Pinkie commands.... where did she get the green helmet?

TACKLE

"NO! LET ME GO! I DON'T WANT TO GO! RUN SHADOW!" I yell as Storm and Big Mac drag me away.

I let out a scream as the three fillies begin to chase me through the house. Why are so many ponies here?! Why are they chasing me? I turn the corner towards the kitchen where I slide to a stop.

"Don't worry Shadow, we're just here to have fun. Nothing bad is going to happen." Pinkie says as she steps toward me. I look back to see the others blocking me from behind.

"I... uh..."

"GET HER!" Scootaloo yells as they all jump towards me. I quickly jump to the left run for the back door. As soon as I open the door the Miles's doggies run in, blocking the others from catching me. I run out and head towards the tower thing as I hear the others chase after me some more.

"Wait! Don't go under...."

FLASH

I blink a few times as I look around. I had ran under the tower, but now I'm under another tower in the middle of some other town.

"Oh... my... god." I turn around to see two mares with really short manes standing in the middle of a street. One is a light tan earth pony while the other is a light cream unicorn. We stare at each other for a second before they both start to run towards me. Mid run one of them trips the other and they both fall to the ground. They begin to fight as they try to get ahead of the other....

"Um... can I help you?" I spin around again to find a moose standing behind me.

"I'm... I'm..." I say as I back away from her.

"It's ok." She says as she walks towards me. "My name is..."

FLASH

The second she had stepped onto the circle under the tower she had disappeared in a bright flash. I sigh in relief until I'm suddenly picked up as squeezed in a tight hug.

"Oh my god you're so cute!" The light tan one says as she continues to hug me.

"I'm... not... cute!" I yell as I try to wiggle out of her grasp.

"Scotch! That wasn't fair! Let me hold her!" The light cream one complains as she runs over, rubbing her horn lightly.

"Too bad, mine." She says as she turns away from her.

"No I'm not! I'm..."

"Butterscotch!"

"Yes E'Calire?" She asks as she looks back. We suddenly become surrounded by a light cream aura and lift off the ground.

"Magic is cheating!" Butterscotch yells as I levitate over to the unicorn, who then holds me lightly.

"Magic is win." E'Calire says as she sticks her tongue out to Butterscotch. I push her arms out and break free of her grasp. As soon as my hooves hit the ground I make a run for it, only to crash into somepony else.

"Whoa, watch where yer going now." Says the moose before me. "Any a yous see where Na-Da went?" He asks as he looks around.

"Sorry Bantler, now can you move so we can continue to squeeze the cute out of that filly?" E'Claire asks as she steps towards me. I jump behind Bantlers legs and use him as a shield against these crazy mares.

"Hmm... who are you anyways?" He asks as he looks down to me.

FLASH

"Shadow!?"

"MILES!" I yell as I run over to him. He runs over and scoops me into his arms, holding me closely.

"Oh sweet Barbra, don't use the Mico platforms unless I say so OK?" He says as he sets me back down.

"Sorry... I didn't know..."

"Who is Barbra?" Butterscotch asks in confusion.

BOOM

"NO!" Bantler yells as he runs to the billow of smoke in the back. "MY BISCUITS!"

"What exactly was going on here?" Miles asks as he looks to the other two.

"Uh... well..."

"They were fighting over who got to hug me!" I yell as I glare at Butterscotch.

"We couldn't help it! Do you see how cute she is!" Butterscotch defends.

"I'M NOT CUTE!" I yell with a slight hop. Miles looks between the two of us before he starts to chuckle. "It's not funny."

"It kind of is." He says as looks back to me. "Look you two, this is Shadow. I'm taking care of her now, so no more fighting over her. Now we're going to head back to Ponyville. I've already sent most of them home, though I'd still like you to meet most of my friends."

"But... I don't want to meet any other ponies."

"You trust me?" He asks. I think about it for a second before nodding to him. "Then don't worry about it. I know you'll love them. Oh, and you two." He says as he looks back to E'Claire and Butterscotch. "Want to join in? Pinkie brought a lot of food and I don't think we'll be able to eat it all."

"Really? I thought we had to stay here to guard Moosden." Butterscotch asks as they look to each other. Miles looks back to them and just waves them along before stepping onto the platform. I look back to the others before running to the spot and flashing back home.

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

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"UGH!" I mutter as I push myself up from bed. It seems like every other day I have to wake up in the middle of the day. I don't think my sleeping pattern will ever return to normal. I go to the door and begin to open it, only to have it fly open.

"Princess Luna! I need your help!" Shinning Armor yells as he charges into my room. I look into the hall to see my two guards passed out on the ground.

"I can see that." I say as I turn back to him. "What is it..."

"They took Cadence!" He yells as he marches back and forth. "I knew I should of went but she said it would be fine and that she's done it before then I told her that I didn't feel right with her leaving in her condition but she said..."

"SHINNING!" I yell, getting him to stop. "Slow, down. Start from the beginning." He takes a few deep breaths before looking me square in the eyes.

"OK. Cadence was on her way to the Crystal Empire when I received a letter from her." He reaches into his armor and pulls out a scroll. I take it with my magic and open it up.

'fear'

Beneath the word is a smear of blood. I look back to Shinning and roll the scroll up, feeling the gravity of the moment.

"OK. You have my attention. How do you know this was from Cadence?"

"I'd recognize her magic anywhere. I need to go to the Crystal Empire right away..."

"Of course. But let me send you some back up." I say as I go to my dresser.

"Thank you. I know just the squad to take...."

"No. No royal guards will be going with you." I say as I start call.

"Then... who?"

"Hey there sexy lady." Miles says through the phone. "What's up?"

"There's a problem here..."

"I'll be right there. E'Claire, Butterscotch, I'm calling in a favor..."

"Miles? Miles?" I ask. I look at the screen to see that he hung up, so I put my phone back in the drawer.

"Miles? Princess, with all due respect, I don't think we need to call him in on this. This is an Equestrian...."

"Do you trust me?" I ask as I look back to him.

"With my life." He says as he straightens up.

"Well I'd trust my life with Miles. So by default you trust him with your life. Plus, I don't think you'd get there fast enough without him..."

"Damn straight he wouldn't." Miles says as he walks through my balcony door. "Where?"

"How fast could you get...."

CRASH

"MILES!" We all jump back as Alistair crashes through the balcony doors and grabs Miles. "We have failed! Ruptor has went north! He's going to consume the King! I need your army NOW!" He yells as he shakes Miles back and forth.

"OK, OK, just set me down!" Miles yells. Once he's down he looks around the room before looking out the opening in my room. "Luna, send me and Shinning to Detrot. We need to get air born."

Next Chapter: Chapter 144 Now And Later Estimated time remaining: 52 Hours, 2 Minutes