Our opponents were the bullies tormenting Cobalt. They were being actively manipulated by the "curse" and were more than willing to attack.

We did not wait to find out what would happen next. Elly looked directly at us and asked us to help. (Unsurprisingly she knew we were following her.)

I summoned up a wall of jagged spears around Elly and Cobalt. Smith flew out and tried to strike one with his hammer but Elly told him to stop.

They were not just magical creatures like last time; they were ponies and griffons who had been possessed. They were still alive and were likely aware of what was going on but unable to do anything about it.

That made everything that much more difficult. Oh sure possession is easy to deal with as long as you have either one of Barn’s enchantments or Celestia’s wards to dispel the shadow. The thing is, we did not.
Obvious Mistake: Always keep at least one Dispel Ward or purity seal on you at all times. It was silly to think that only monsters could be possessed.
Solution: We should build a Dispel Ward or purity seal into our armors and into the Royal Seal itself.

Note: I cannot precisely remember most of what happened; again, I am starting to understand why you try to document everything in every way possible. I am just going to have to hope my memory is good enough.

As soon as we realized we could not dispel the magic, the encounter became difficult.

Smith, Elly, and I would try and protect Cobalt as best as we could until Barn and Plum arrived. Many times we would have to act as a physical shield. (I ended up blocking with my face a lot.) Luckily, they were not as strong as the previous shadow monsters nor was their magic as powerful. Our armor protected us well enough and Elly was able to heal us.

Nevertheless, it was exhausting. We were barely standing by the time our friends arrived. They quickly dropped Cobalt’s armor and gave us the purity seals.

From there, everything was much easier. Plum used her Helios spears to pin down targets and Barn would use the enchanted items to remove the shadow. Smith and I acted as distractions or restrained the guys so we could use our own purity seals.

Unexpected Reaction: During this time, having enough of the pain, Cobalt stuck his head against the ground, raised his front hoof, and stomped it down on his horn, breaking it off near the base. That had to have hurt (think removing all off your teeth with pliers levels of ouch) yet Cobalt promptly tried to attack the leader unicorn. I stopped him and told him to put on his armor first. That task occupied his time for the rest of the battle. (Just as planned.)

In the end, we got all of them. We cornered the leader and purified him.

The other ones had woken up in a terrified daze, remotely aware of what had happened. The leader dropped dead. My blood ran cold as I thought we had killed him.

Elly revealed to us that he was already dead. She had felt it when she first saw them. The only thing keeping him alive was the shadow.
Analysis: This entity can force things to be alive so it can manipulate them. I have never even heard of that kind of necromancy.

The other bullies were what I could best describe as shell-shocked. Unsurprisingly, being possessed is not a pleasant experience. I briefly contemplated what we would do for or say to the townsfolk to show that we did not kill somepony. The good news is that everything got so much worse that it hardly mattered.

There was another of those indescribable inhalation-like sounds. This one seemed much angrier.

I checked my HUD and saw that the entire town was surrounded with the familiar signals. The radar began to identify the appearance of hostile creatures.

We rushed over to the town center. Golems and the now undead bird-people of the past civilization were pulling themselves up from the ground and attacking anything near them.
Note: It reminded me of the video footage I saw of the battle at Colberton, except this time there were almost no warriors to defend the place (and also zombies/skeletons). Most of the few who tried to fight were quickly immobilized by the glue-golems.

On the other hoof, unlike Coltberton, there were also a ton of ponies who were possessed.

No need to explain our (epic!) battle to you. To summarize, drones initiated their defense protocol which, needless to say, freaked me out. I quickly set the code not to target any pony-like creatures before anything bad could happen. The drones activated their guns or energy or magical weapons and eliminated every standard threat they could target.

With the drones dealing with everything else, we managed to purify all of the possessed.
Observation: Some of the ponies learned to hide behind the drones for protection. I guess we were wrong about the average pony being afraid of combat machines.

The only pony noticeably doing anything effective other than us was Rim the innkeeper. She wielded a double-bladed sword, called a swallow, in her mouth and was systematically cutting down opponent after opponent. Even though she did not have our armor, she was moving at least as fast as us, if not faster. (So awesome!)

She saw us and asked us who we really were. We sort of told the truth saying we were royal warriors of Princess Celestia and were there to help.
Self-Compliment: This was exactly the right thing to do.

Rim seemed satisfied with that answer so, without further delay, we began to assist in the battle.
Note: Cobalt did not prove to be very helpful as the armor was difficult to use. But it was a good thing he had the armor as its regenerators, and his own natural ability, were helping his horn grow back. He also learned how to work the enchantments which would be his introduction to using magic.

I know this is going to shock you but as soon as we were winning, everything got worse. The townsfolk began to panic. We felt something approach. A wall of darkness swallowed the town. One after another, dark creatures moved in.

While terrifying, these creatures had no substance to them, they were clearly illusions.

The drones had not been programmed to deal with this and so they targeted every opponent they could and unloaded their ordinance in every direction. When the guns did not work, as per our design, the programming told them to use stronger attacks and unlocked their missiles. We managed to send out a signal for ceasefire only after the first drone unleashed its barrage.
Mistake: That was an unexpected design flaw. I guess we cannot rely on simple AI programs to make correct decisions in unusual circumstances.

Within the darkness we heard the explosives detonate and another building collapse.

The darkness and illusions dissipated.

Our machines had inadvertently ravaged large sections of Equire including some of the ancient structures.
Analysis: This was unacceptable. We accidentally vaporized a good portion of the town’s history. It was the biggest failure of the mission and one I feel most guilty of because it did not need to happen.

The only good thing coming out of all of this was that the drones managed to shoot almost everything. Everything just so happened to include our new opponent.

Out of the rubble of the one collapsed building burst forth a shadow zebra. We got ready for a fight but the zebra shrugged away some more of the rubble to reveal two little fillies. It nudged the two and told them to get away. The fillies complied, galloping away towards the nearest group of ponies.
Unusual Actions: So yeah, not only did the creature talk but it protected something. Considering what we know about these things, that action made no sense.

I asked if it was friendly. It responded by summoning more golems, more of the undead, and creating magical constructs from various debris. To top it off, it threw out a couple dozen illusions of itself and sent this small army at us.

Obviously, this zebra was hostile.

I considered what you would do in this situation and found an obvious answer. The Unknown Guardians have dealt with these kinds of enemies before. I reactivated the drones and told Barn, Smith, and Plum to handle the zebra for a while. Just like you would, I decided to use the moment to test something out.

Note: Having seen the zebra and its undead minions, Cobalt was terrified. Moreover, he had never seen fighting like this before. Fear is an understandable and natural reaction to these shadow creatures and this kind of battle. He covered his head with his front hooves and began whimpering to himself. Both Elly and Rim had decided to comfort him.

I lightly trotted up to Cobalt and mentally noted that his new horn has developed just fine.

I got his attention and told him what I knew to be the truth. The only reason why he could not use magic was because something had been purposefully holding him back. The only reason why this thing would prevent him from using magic would be because he was a lot more powerful than the average unicorn. Elly knew this ever since she saw him at the competition and wanted to help bring out this potential.

I explained that all he has to do is try and use magic and it should come naturally to him. (In case you ask: no, I had no basis for saying that. I just hoped he was so naturally talented that it would come naturally to him. I may not be of legal age but I know how to gamble!)

When he needed further instructions, I told him to focus on what he wanted to do and apply energy through his horn.
Self-Compliment: This was a great analysis of the situation. The entity generally only obstructs the strong. If it attacks anypony, that being is a potential threat and likely has unique powers or abilities. You know, like me! (Hey, this might be a good way to find recruits.)

After some effort, Cobalt’s horn began to glow. Cobalt’s eyes emanated a pure white magical energy. His horn emitted a blinding light. When the initial burst of energy was over, the unicorn wrapped himself in a rainbow spectrum of light. Confidence returned, Cobalt initiated a sprinting stance.

The ground exploded under the force of Cobalt’s acceleration. Cobalt effortlessly smashed through the creatures in front of him. He darted away once more and appeared on the top of a house. The unicorn fired off a blade of energy at a zebra only to find it was an illusion. A magical bolt headed in his direction. On pure reflexes, Cobalt quickly jumped away and used magic to pull himself to the ground.

Cobalt turned all of his athletic training into combat prowess. He continued to dart around from position to position, levitating and launching any debris or item he could get his hoof on. If he found nothing, he would fire off another magical attack. He single-hoofedly filled the air with projectiles and cut down our opponents. Sometimes he would just create a shield around himself, ram them at full speed, and dash away, completely unharmed.
Oddity: The glue did not seem to slow Cobalt down. Might want to investigate that.

If I have yet to make this clear, Cobalt Flash is awesome. And yet Rim could almost keep up with him.

While Cobalt, Rim, Smith, and the drones went about their business, the rest of us helped the wounded. We really weren't needed. None of use had expected both Cobalt and Rim to be that effective. Not even the shadow wolf or pegasus moved with that kind of speed. The zebra had no chance of hitting them.

All the while, I carefully observed the entire battlefield and came up with another plan.

After seeing attacks go through each illusion, I pointed at one zebra and highlighted it on Cobalt’s suit’s HUD. Cobalt figured out what I was getting at, picked his target, shot forward, rammed his new horn into the creature, and fired off a blast of electricity before leaping backwards.

With the shadow zebra stunned, I ordered all of us to use our razor coils and magic to ensnare it. We had no trouble doing this. (Remember when these shadow things used to be challenging?)

With it trapped and all of its minions destroyed, I explained it was at our mercy and it should talk.

Surprisingly, it nodded to us and said it would respond. (Esper Teach: Gambling Expert!)
Note: I believe it spoke in a distorted whisper. I wish I could describe its voice better but I do not wholly remember what it sounded like. It had trouble talking.
Analysis: Maybe speech is not natural to it.

I was able to write most of this down due to being lent a quill and paper. Unfortunately, I did miss a few things and some of its answers made no sense. Anyways, here we go. Let me know if I am being a bit dry.

Q: I asked why it would so easily agree to my demand.
A: It told me an interrogation does not help nor hinder it in any way, shape, or form. It finds no reason to resist or lie.

Q: I asked who it was.
A: It told us it was called The Shaman.

Q: I asked if it knew of the other three shadow creatures.
A: It responded that it knew of them. Their names were The Storm, The Assassin, and The Shield.

• The shadow creatures are not a group or organization; they are servants to another entity. This entity is far more powerful than they are.
• There are many servants to and allies of this entity. It would not say what or who.
• The Shaman saved those fillies because they were not a threat. It gave no other explanation.
• It does not consider the Unknown Guardians a threat or even a nuisance. We are just another group of beings.
• It wishes to kill Princess Celestia though I cannot say for certain this is its big plan. It said she is the biggest threat to it. However, if this entity challenged the princess alone she would die.
• It suppressed Cobalt’s abilities because it did not want him fully realizing his power as that could have been problematic.
• It did not outright kill Cobalt because there was interference. Unsurprisingly, it did not elaborate. It only attacked now because there was no other option. It knew it would probably lose.
• The controlling entity has a vast range of powers and is immortal. Even it does not know if it can truly die. It has the ability to control and manipulate others of weak spirit. If not altered directly by the entity, stronger beings can only be suppressed.

Side Note: I asked if the main entity altered my abilities. It said that it does not know or care. If I was potentially powerful, it probably altered my abilities to make them dangerous to myself and others. It would influence minds to make sure they were either afraid of me or would die because of me.
Analysis: This is likely a general strategy applied to a broad range of situations. It may not have given me the answer I wanted but this data is at least satisfactory.

There was one bit of truly unexpected information. I am not sure how it came up but the entity considers individual humans to be problematic nuisances. As a whole, they are troublesome. (That is pretty good news.)

When asked about its history with humans, all it said was that it had once thought that humans were similar to it in purpose but it is no longer certain. Their “essence” is unusual. Humans do not respond to its powers the same way as other creatures do because the world does not bend around them properly. It noted that the ones that arrived years ago were far stronger than it anticipated. It was not sure what to make of their strange devices and actions. It was concerned they might interfere again. It would have significantly changed its plans if they stayed.

In what appeared to be a slip of the tongue, it said the decay of their masters had not made them weaker. After that, it refused to explain anything else on its relationship with or knowledge about humanity.
Note: I just realized that the Equirians now know that humans exist and that they had some sort of uncertain relationship with this creature. Not sure what that is going to do. Might want to keep an eye on them.

The entity does not care about good or evil. It can and has killed off any possible challengers. Any hero, villain, or powerful being is eliminated if possible.

Q: Rim asked if it was the one to end the civilization surrounding Equire.
A: The Shaman said she was more likely to know the answer better than anypony else but that it itself does not remember as it does not distinguish between one group or another. It is both possible and likely that it killed them. This elicited an angry reaction from the citizens of Equire which was quickly quelled when the Shaman hissed at them and told them to be quiet or it would not talk.

Moreover, the entity does not want to rule the world or get revenge. It has a goal and it will complete it.

There were probably other questions but I cannot figure out the rest of my notes or remember anything else.

…Oh biscuits, why didn’t I just use my suit’s recording device? Why didn’t any of us have our recorders on? That was so stupid. I can’t believe I did that.

I better move on before I give myself a concussion by slamming my head against my desk.

With all other inquiries answered, I demanded that the thing tell me who or what it is working for.

It did not speak.

I threatened to force it to talk with a spell.

It glared at me for a while, opened its mouth, and heaved itself forward using our razor coils to tear itself apart. What was left of the shadow zebra dropped to the ground and died. It decayed into a dark mist and faded away.

And just like that, it was all over.
Ambiguous Result: It is hard to tell if that was the correct action to take. It is doubtful it would have talked about that. It is uncertain whether or not there was an action that could get it to speak.

From there, there was not much to do. We offered to help the ponies of Equire fix up the place, since our drones had done the most damage, but they refused.

Actually, ever since that zebra’s death, they have all started to feel more lively and capable. They felt it was their responsibility to restore this place, not the Royal Guard’s. Instead they wanted us to make sure that thing was stopped so that, when they do restore the civilization, it will be done in peace.

If nothing else, they held no ill will towards us.

Cobalt confirmed that he wanted to come with us. He seemed confident when he said his abilities obviously put this thing on edge. I reminded him that even Celestia probably cannot stop it. Cobalt nodded and said, “Every bit helps and I can help them more by going with you than staying here.”

We agreed and welcomed him into the Unknown Guardians.

[Cobalt joined your party]

Equire has never been big on goodbyes. Cobalt had to go to each house and personally say he was leaving. They would wish him luck and sometimes even give him a present.

Though Cobalt said it was not their fault, the bullies apologized for their actions and made Cobalt promise that he would make sure what happened to their friend happened to nopony else. Cobalt agreed and they parted ways.

Cobalt had one last talk with Rim. At one point, we asked the pegasus who she really was but she ignored that request. (Stratos, do not try and find out. I have a feeling that if we go back, she will not be there.) She told Cobalt that she wanted him to remember his dreams and not get too wrapped up in this. Cobalt nodded, hugged her, and told us that it was time for us to leave.

As Cobalt left Equire, Rim was the only one waving good bye. Cobalt told us he liked it that way.

On the way back, we discussed what had occurred and reestablished a number of conclusions:

1. These signatures are not caused by a group of individuals but a single controlling entity. On the other hoof, that does not rule out other creatures being involved.
2. Those shadow-monsters we keep fighting are not living creatures but magical entities subservient to this main entity. They might even be a part of the entity.
3. It can possess individuals and make them act against their will.
4. It can use its powers to suppress abilities and alter how we act towards one another even if we do not find these actions rational or pleasing.
5. It can lie dormant in an area for extended periods of time making it nearly impossible to detect.
6. It may not be evil by the traditional definition. It will kill anything. The significant drop in both heroes and villains could be attributed to its actions.

That all said, there was one event that stood out and was hard to decipher. The entity will protect individuals for some reason. The fillies in this case were normal though one did have a bit of a limp unrelated to her injuries.

Based on everything I have seen, I do not think it was acting out of the “kindness of its heart.” It does not want to kill anything that is not a threat. Why that is up for speculation and probably will not help us anyways.

Since we now have something useful to say, I will try and send all of this information to Nick. Hopefully, he will be able to make use of it.

I am certain that this thing is not what made Equestria what it is today. If anything, we have prospered in spite of its influence.

I am concerned about this but I want you to know it will not stop me or any of us. Equestria has survived and conquered great dangers in the past. With your help, I know we can do so once more.

So please Stratos, you and Zed need to come back.

Naturally, we did not come back ever again.

Joking aside, I was caught off guard by how unusually happy Esper was to see us. After a long, tear-filled hug she told us what happened and I agreed with Esper’s analysis.

The unfortunate part is that, since this entity can hide its presence, we cannot just eliminate the dark signals; we have to investigate practically everything to make sure that we stop this thing. It’s more of an added nuisance than anything else.

I told Esper she did great. She didn’t believe me so I reminded her that on the first “mission” I went on against this thing, I managed to try and use a farming tool as a weapon (which, as can be seen, I still use out of habit), lost all of my support units, and nearly died. On the other hand, Esper completed her mission, managed to deal with a situation she was not expecting, and obtained some useful information. I emphasized the disparity of those results.

I then introduced myself to Cobalt. He heard my name from Elly but she forgot to mention I was a human. He was a little surprised to say the least. He was also very happy since he realized that meant that the humans that worried the entity were willing to challenge it.

Now past me would have made some snarky (or downright cruel) comments about humanity. Other, more recent, past me instead said that we could count on reinforcements sometime in the future which bolstered Cobalt’s spirit even more. (And, if I recall correctly, also got me a smile from Barn.)

After introductions, Cobalt showed off his abilities and was very pleased at both my and Zed’s reactions. Esper’s right, his abilities were unbelievable.

Cobalt asked if he could keep up his training and enter in more races and other competitions. I said it was fine as long as he could work it around our demands. Besides, we have training schedules. It’s not like his training conflicts with that.

With all that done, we went over the mission data.

During that mission, the armor we gave Cobalt recorded how his brain consciously picked up on and worked through the horn to gain use of magic. Because of this insight, we were able to improve our knowledge on magic, even if it was only a bit.

Furthermore, I discovered that objects from Humanity’s Earth have slightly different properties that can be consciously adjusted.

In other words, I found out how to focus enough to expand the natural anti-magic field around me and objects from Earth. This ability is actually kind of useless since my armor needs magic to work at full capacity. So, it is kind of cool and can be useful in like one or two situations but I would prefer to know how to actually use magic.

More important were the weapons and armor we created from combining the few metals the expedition brought from Earth and left with me with materials from Equestria. With training, this allowed us to consciously switch between magic and anti-magic attack and defense. That proved to be useful on more than one occasion.

That said, the physics of Equestria are fairly malleable and still work on me in unexpected ways. I assume it comes from consuming food made in Equestria (therefore making this world's matter a part of my cellular structure) but after practicing with the new equipment, I also found out that, if I focus on exactly what I wanted to do and how, I could actually increase my physical abilities fairly significantly. Almost enough to almost keep up with Cobalt provided he is not being serious and does not use active magic to boost his abilities. That’s pretty good considering how it should be impossible for a human to come anywhere close to matching an Equestrian pony in speed, strength, etc. without using technology.

One thing Esper forgot to mention was that the armor we wear has things to purify us. (They just can’t be used on anything not inside the armor.) Therefore, we definitely did remove whatever possessed Cobalt and suppressed his magic.

We soon discovered that Cobalt’s magic being suppressed meant that it was literally sapping his energy at increasing rates. His body had adjusted to the lack of energy both physically and magically. Basically, he spent his whole life with training weights and he had been training otherwise. Now that those “weights” were off he was far better than the average athlete or mage and never seemed to run out of energy.

It seems that, in that regard, this entity’s suppression of his abilities actually backfired quite significantly. Then again, I’m sure it never meant for anyone to be able to save his life and remove that sort-of possession to make him this powerful in the end.

And, because of all of this energy, he is always exercising in his spare time. Due to this propensity towards exercise, Cobalt became The Unknown Guardians’ unofficial trainer.

It does make sense; Cobalt has a way of motivating us. Besides that, he likes to volunteer for any strenuous task. It is probably related to how loyal he is to his companions which Esper has told me is a very Equirian trait.

He is also concerned about time. Every second counts to him as it means it is time that could be used for something else. Thus, it is not uncommon to see him trotting or galloping from one location to the next even if it is by no means necessary.

And for the most part, Cobalt gets along with everyone.

He is very considerate of others and does not distract them while they are in the middle of something. This is probably the one thing that has kept Smith from killing him. That and he’s a lot faster than Smith.

I could never get Barn to be excited about anything except humans, but with Esper's help Cobalt and Barn have started their own little study into how their magic works. They are trying to see if there is a true difference between Barn’s enchantments and Cobalt’s unicorn magic. That said, Cobalt is not a reader or a thinker. It does not mean he is dumb, it just means he understands only as much as he needs to. Because of that, magic is pretty much the only thing the three work at together.

Zed constantly works with Cobalt to improve his combat magic. Mostly so that Zed can learn to fight mages better but also to train Cobalt to think tactically. Cobalt’s healing and energy means he can spar many times in one day. As a result, even if he can’t ever win, Cobalt is the one pony who can actually wear Zed out and it is amusing when he does if only because of how much that frustrates Zed.

Plum made Cobalt practice a few flying spells so she could work with him on a number of tasks. It’s kind of scary how fast the two can plan and build something. Otherwise, she finds Cobalt to be uplifting and likes his company.

But Cobalt frequently hangs out with Elly and the two get along great. A surprising amount of their time together is spent playing the various old video games I brought with me. Cobalt figured out how to use the controllers with his magic (which is no easy task given that he has to focus on the game and the controller). He is one of the few individuals who can come close to matching Elly in skill (the other being Zed of course). They especially love games that have campaign Co-op like Halo. It’s unfortunate Equestria does not have the internet. I bet those two would love online multiplayer and talking on the forums. Who knows; maybe one day it will happen.

As for me, Cobalt likes to get me to train with him the most. According to him, I spent too much time in the lab and that made me fall behind the others in battle. For some reason, even back then, I just could not resist him. It has helped.

We go on long runs, generally wearing training weights. Naturally, he does not allow anyone to use their armor and I’m no exception.

I also spend a good portion of my post-training time with Cobalt. He likes to ask me questions and I like to answer. It’s a little basic but somehow this habit is rather rewarding for us.

Cobalt: You know—

Stratos: No I don’t.

*PAUSE*

Cobalt: …Have I broken my promise by being good at magic?

Stratos: Depends on what you mean.

Cobalt: I wanted to prove that I could still be a great athlete even if I didn’t have magic.

Stratos: I think that answers your question.

Cobalt: So, I did?

Stratos: No. All you said was that you wanted to prove you could be a great athlete even without magic. Heck, now you are trying to be a great athlete and a great magic user. In other words, you are proving the two are not mutually exclusive. Which is even more difficult than just being an athlete.

Cobalt: Wait, didn’t you say you were a scientist?

Stratos: Well I never graduated and some consider my field more engineering or programming than science but at this point that doesn’t mean much since Esper and I have made a lot of discoveries. Even if admittedly most of those discoveries are only because the Unknown’s research pointed us in the right direction.

Cobalt: Uh… so, are you trying to prove you can be a great warrior and a great thinker?

Stratos: Yeah, that is what I've always been subconsciously doing. I've always wanted to be a Paladin but my specialties lie with machines.

Cobalt: Do you think I could become the best athlete?

Stratos: Someone has to be the best and I don’t think any other athlete is part of an organization with near infinite resources… huh, my life got weird.

Cobalt: You just realized how strange it is to came from another world without magic and turn from a scientist to a warrior?

Stratos: Obviously you've never played D&D.

Cobalt: ...Are you sure all humans aren’t as strange as you?

Stratos: Pretty sure. Would you prefer if I acted serious and brooding all of the time?

Cobalt: *Snickers* No thanks. I’ll take weird over boring any day.

Stratos: Even if it means you get stuck fighting super-powerful evil monsters?

Cobalt: I consider that bonus training.

Stratos: Just be careful. No one likes a guy who’s perfect at everything. And if you’re too good people will just think you are evil on the inside. Hm, unless you are stupid that is.

Cobalt: If nopony thinks stupid ponies are evil, by your logic, I should just give myself brain damage to even it all out.

Stratos: A perfect plan that could never backfire.

Cobalt: And the lack of studies you keep forcing me into would mean I could just put more time into exercising. Speaking of which…

Stratos: *Sigh* Okay, okay, I’m done with my break. Let’s try again.

Cobalt: And this time try and keep up.

Stratos: Oh, yeah, sure, that’s possible.

Cobalt: You just have to work at it. Practice makes perfect.

Stratos: But nothing’s perfect so why practice?

Cobalt: …You’re not getting out of this.

Stratos: Damn.

I’m glad I met Cobalt after what I guess I should call my epiphany back when we recruited Smith. Cobalt is the only one who does not know what I used to be like. That has probably helped our friendship more than anything else.

Thanks to his efforts, I finally pulled myself away from the vast majority of my research efforts. In all honesty, by then I had already done more than the average person could expect to do in two lifetimes. I had only continued because it is what I had always done. Again, thanks to Cobalt, I avoided those kinds of time-sinks. I began to actually interact with others and not spend so much time inside or on my own. I became sociable.

It scares me to think I completely dismissed him when I first heard about him.

Not that I can fully blame myself or say I was completely wrong for doing that. Esper got something wrong in her report. Cobalt was not afraid of shadow monsters or The Shaman in Equire, he was afraid of the undead. Cobalt has a severe case of Necrophobia. Considering our job, this has come to bite us more than once and holds him back greatly. Still, I cannot say I would ever get rid of him or assign him to a different unit.

Really, I cannot stress this enough, Cobalt is important to me. He’s the best friend I have ever had. I can’t think of another individual I spend more time with or am so open with. In some ways, though that statement does a disservice to both of them, Cobalt reminds me of Nick. He is always positive and helping others simply because that is what a person is supposed to do. He’s the kind of guy it is just a joy to be around. Around him, I feel capable. I would do anything for him. And I have gone out of my way to help him on numerous occasions.

Honestly, Cobalt is the first individual I have ever truly treated like a friend.

I was not the only one changed by Cobalt. His aspirations have affected all of us. He talks about dreams so much that it made us all consider what we wanted to do after this whole “dark signal” thing was over. I found Esper’s goal to be the most ambitious. Her experience in Equire had rekindled her interest in wanting to be a writer. She wanted to publish some of her more minor scientific and magical studies but did not rule out the possibility of becoming a fiction writer. Of course she would have to dance around the parts of being an Unknown Guardian but, hey, that’s a challenge she accepted.

As I said before, there was nothing preventing my friends from leading relatively normal lives outside our battles. (Well, nothing apart from the old me.) Most of them just didn’t.

In a way, it was Cobalt that forced everyone to live double lives. As I said, he really wanted to continue his athletic career between dealing with all of his battles. Only he had the amount of energy needed to keep up that kind of lifestyle. But it did give us an excuse to appear in areas. That does not mean I can actually show myself. Unlike Elly, who can be always found by Cobalt’s side, I have to spend most of my time silently cheering from afar.

The others don’t have that same problem. In fact, they take advantage of the exposure Cobalt’s popularity gives them. Barn sells minor magical items, Plum promotes her architecture, and Smith (somewhat reluctantly) sells his armors. Epser even got involved in writing clubs and scientific journals. We made sure we never got too big (“Esper’s findings” could have made her a scientific celebrity on par with Einstein or Stephen Hawking) but we were still somewhat known.

Well, everyone is known except for Zed and I.

Zed is fine with this. He just wants to know that he is defending Equestria and its citizens.

I have mixed feelings about it to say the least.

I want to be important. I really do. I feel like I should be.

That’s probably why, whenever everyone else was away, I started to devote more and more time to work with Celestia on extending the Unknown Guardians. It might be selfish, but I did want more recognition for what I was doing. Being the leader of a large organization would help with that.

At least my friends are achieving their dreams. Maybe once this thing is over I will have achieved mine. Perhaps I will become that legendary paladin. Hopefully.

But I am beginning to doubt it. Even with all of our firepower, we need to rely on information. Yet even Celestia doesn't know everything. Even then, there are secrets being kept from me. I am being kept hidden and used as a weapon. The Unknown Guardians are weapons. We are mortals acting in what I know is a struggle involving powerful entities, deities, and abominations. I can't be certain any of us will survive when there are unknown factors and immortals as our opponents.

Cobalt fears death. I fear being insignificant. And how important am I when even immortals are left in the dark?