Fire turned to his brother as they watched the foals depart the train. It shocked them when they did not turn to move into the empire; rather, the six friends started walking around the empire towards the northern edge.

“What do you suppose that’s about?” Fire asked.

“They probably want to avoid being seen. The two pegasi are from here, you know.”

“This is a problem. The others won’t know where they went.”

“Less of one than you might think,” Ice gestured to a few ponies eyeing the six suspiciously. As Ice said, the pegasi were the princes of the Crystal Empire and Cloudsdale. With the loss of its commander, most of Cloudsdale was still mourning. Needless to say, Blaze and Flash would attract attention anywhere they went near this area.

“Indeed. Let’s get everything ready,” Fire said with a smile before taking off. It would not due for the foals to be lost in the frozen north. Their orders had been quite clear that they were nothing more than a division. That nopony or hippogriff was to die from this and after the two months it took to get into Canterlot in the first place, neither of them was eager to screw it up now.

…

“Wow…. It’s so crystally!” Dayspring shouted as he kept trying to run towards the crystal structures at the heart of the empire. His eyes twinkled with the reflection of the Crystal Palace in the center.

Blaze found the oddest expression on his face as he watch the little hippogriff get yanked back by the tether every time he would get too far away from his sister. He actually found himself smiling.

Vela hated it. She wanted to go into town and show little Dayspring everything he wanted to go see. To show him all the sights and sounds, the new food, and the crystal ponies themselves. It was cruel to show him something like this and not let him see them up close.

It had been Starlight’s insistence that they go around the town. Blaze and Flash would simply attract too much attention. Not that the rest of them would get away scot free either. They were all famous for who they were related too, for who they were, and the titles they held.

‘We all live under quite the large shadow’, Vela thought as she was left with little choice but to watch her little brother get pulled back onto his flank yet again. Any other time she would have said ‘buck it’ and just gone with him anyway. However, it was Dayspring’s laughter every time it would happen that caused her not too. The little hippogriff was enjoying himself.

And if she was being honest, she found it funny too.

“So where exactly are we going?” Blaze turned to Ana.

“The pegasi at the shop said they lost the ability to fly over the border to the frozen north. We need to go there and start looking.”

“Ana, the border to the frozen north is huge, I’ve seen it, do you have any plans to narrow it down?”

Ana stopped and glared at him with the look one reserves for someone who merely finds fault with everything they can while offering no solutions of their own. Blaze’s eyes went wide as he flew down to hide behind his brother, who thankfully was walking by himself now.

“Flash, she’s going to hurt me!”

“Leave me alone.”

Everypony stopped when they heard him speak. It had been his first words since they started this whole journey.

“Flash, did you just?” Starlight looked at him. He simply glared back. Which in and of itself was something to celebrate. It had been too long since he had anything other than a deadpan expression on his face.

She would take what she could get; even anger was a welcome change in his behavior.
Ana did not read the subtext as well as her sister did. She leaped on the pegasus and rolled him over in the dirt. A shout of, “He speaks!” accompanied her joyous outburst.

Her face quickly became friends with his hoof as he kicked her square in the jaw, “Get off me!” Flash shouted as loud as he could.

Ana rolled off and rubbed her sore muzzle, “Flash, I-”

“Don’t touch me,” Flash glared at her.

In an ironic turn of events, Vela jumped between them, “That’s enough from you, Flash. What the buck is wrong with you?! How could you hit her like that?!”

Flash was only able to meet her gaze for a few seconds before he turned away, “Leave me alone,” he said under his breath.

“No,” Vela stated.

Flash glared at her again, this time he held her gaze.

Vela walked up to him, “You’ve always been the first to jump to a pony’s defense. You’re the one that stands up for what’s right, the one that’s always there for anypony that needed him. Yet now you act like you don’t care; you act like others don’t matter, that nothing matters. Why?!”

“’Cause my mom’s dead!” Flash yelled, his entire body was shaking with rage, “She’s dead and nothing will bring her back! Anypony, any of us can die at any time, we can just go, just like that,” he was crying now.

Flash lowered his head to stare at the ground, “We don’t matter ‘cause we can just die at any time. Why… why should I care about somepony, why should I go through that hurt again if they can just die? If they can leave me like that at any time,” his sobbing grew louder at that. Blaze soon followed his brother in crying.

Vela sighed; she walked up to the pegasus, he would not even raise his head to look at her anymore. With one claw she picked him up and brought him in for a bear hug. He bawled at that. All the pain, the hurt, and the anguish he had felt over the last three months, all of it. It all came back at that one moment.

Vela lightly stroked his mane as she held him in her grasp, “She didn’t leave you,” Vela cooed softly as she stroked his fur.

“Yeah she did,” Flash sobbed.

“No, she didn’t. Your mom was taken from you, taken in the worst way imaginable. It wasn’t her choice to go; she would never choose to leave you, either of you. Someone did this to her, to you.”

Flash could no longer speak, not in any way that might come across as coherent, so he did not try. He merely sobbed and cried out into Vela’s fur. Every part of him needed this, it needed this release, to vent the pain, rage, and anguish he physically felt.

Over the past three months he had tried to keep it in, tried to numb himself to the world around him. He had tried to push everypony away to keep himself from feeling that hurt. It was all for naught, they were fake walls that hid very real, very painful feelings. Feelings he did not know how to deal with, feelings nopony knew how to deal with.

The pain of loss hits everyone differently. There is no checklist of actions to take to make it go away, because, well, it never does.

Some pain is always there, regardless how old you get or how much time passes.

His first awareness of something else happening in the world was when he felt a little claw grab his hoof and start tugging on it. Using his other hoof to wipe away the tears from his eyes Flash looked down at the small hippogriff that was trying to get his attention.

Dayspring looked up at him with pure innocence in his eyes, “You wanna share my mom?” he asked.

Everypony’s eyes went wide at that. Flash looked down at the little hippogriff with his mouth agape, “What?” he managed to say through his sobs.

“Well… your mom was taken from you and everyone should have a mom to tuck them in at night and read them bedtime stories. So we could share... if you want,” Dayspring said the words like he was offering to share his teacup.

“I… I… I…” Flash was at a loss of words.

“Mine too,” Ana said as she walked forward and placed a hoof on little Dayspring’s shoulder, “He’s right, everyone should have a mom. You can share… you both can share mine.”

“Ours,” Starlight corrected as she wiped a tear from her eye, “We’re all one big family anyway, there’s no reason we shouldn’t act like it.”

Vela let go of Flash and stood by Starlight and Ana. Blaze flew over and landed next to his brother, “You guys mean it?” he asked.

“Of course,” Vela said as she picked up her younger brother and placed him on her back, “You’re both family. We stand and fall together.”

“Thank you,” Flash started crying again, albeit for a very different reason, “Thank you all so much.”

They all gathered together for a group hug after that. One held for quite some time as not one of them wanted to let go of any of the others. In the end it was Ana that brought them back to the reality of the situation, “We’re not done yet guys,” she said.

“You’re right,” Flash replied as the group broke apart, “There’s still one of us missing. Come on, let’s bring him home.”

“We’re going to get Baz back?” Dayspring asked.

“Taz,” Ana corrected him as she playfully ran a hoof over his head.

“Do we have any idea how yet?” Blaze asked as he hugged his brother tighter.

“Same way they found him in the first place,” Ana said with a smile, “We look for where we can’t use our magic.”

“Magic?” Dayspring asked her inquisitively.

“We all have magic, Dayspring. It’s what enables you, your sister, Blaze, and Flash to fly,” Starlight said as she brought her muzzle close to his.

“And your horn,” Dayspring poked at it with a claw.

“Yep, my sister and I can channel magic in our horns. Ours might be a little more obvious than yours but that doesn’t make your magic any less impressive.”

Dayspring flapped his wings excitedly at that, “Sis, did you know I had magic?!”

She grabbed him from off her back and snuggled him, “You are magic, little brother.”

“I’m magic?!” Dayspring said with wide eyes.

Ana, Blaze, Flash, Vela, and Starlight all chuckled at that, “Yes, yes you are,” Starlight confirmed without a doubt in her heart. One so cute and innocent could be nothing else in her mind. Even if it was not a literal statement there was no doubt in her mind that it was still true.

The mood changed after that. Gone was the oppressiveness from the twins, the fear and self-loathing that Vela felt about bringing Dayspring here (even if she never gave voice to that fact), and the worry and concern of Ana and Starlight.

Somehow, the little hippogriff that by all rights should have stayed home brought them all together by reminding them what was really important in life: Family.

It was a feeling that did not last when they reached their destination, “Wow,” was all Ana could say when she took a glance at the wall of ice that signified the border to the frozen north.

It stood hundreds of hooves tall in places, ice as blue as the mountain lakes that glistened in the sunlight. In several places where trails that led to ready-made paths to the north. Trails that were maintained by the ponies that made their living up here.

Of course, how they managed to do that was anypony’s guess. Although Starlight was sure that powerful magic was definitely in use here.

“Isn’t this where grandma said King Sombra was sealed away?” Ana whispered the question to her sister. Starlight just nodded discreetly.

“What now?” Vela asked, “Do we just fly over and wait until we find a spot where we fall out of the sky?”

“Umm, yes,” Ana said meekly.

“You’re joking, right?” Vela looked at her, “Please, for the love of Luna, tell me you’re joking. Tell me that’s not your plan.”

Ana looked up and stared her in the eye, “If you got a better idea I’m all ears. That was the one and only clue we have had for all of this. The pegasi encountered an area while flying up north where one of them fell out of the sky, and only Taz has the power to make something like that happen.”

“This is… this is so stupid.” Vela sighed.

“C’mon sis, let’s find Taz!” Dayspring said excitably as he grabbed ahold of the feathers on her back.

“Looks like you’ve been outvoted,” Starlight said as she blew the hippogriff a raspberry.

“Oh shut up.”

“Stay close to the ice when you’re flying. That way if you do fall out of the sky you won’t get hurt,” Flash took the lead, “Vela and Dayspring, you two take the west side. Blaze and I will take the east. Starlight and Ana, you two take directly ahead of us. Teleport around and look for places where you cannot cast spells any longer.”

“Well, look who’s back,” Ana said as she winked at him.

“Do not overdo it,” Flash ignored her playful behavior and got serious, “We have no idea what’s going on and I do not want anypony getting hurt.”

Vela and Starlight looked at him, impressed. It was indeed a good plan. Twilight’s tether would prevent the groups from separating further and any real exertion might cause problems if something did go bad. They nodded their approval.

It was a good plan, too bad it was all for naught.

“What the buck!” A shout came from the north. Every head snapped in its direction. They all watched as a dark-red pegasus suddenly dropped several hooves in the air. From the looks of things the pegasus simply lost the ability to stay in flight.

He spread his wings as wide as he could. While a pegasus’s wings were not sufficient in size to achieve lift, he was able to catch the wind and glide forward enough to escape whatever had caused him to lose the ability to fly. After a few heart-wrenching moments, he flapped his wings again and started regaining altitude.

“Or he’s right over there,” Flash said, everypony and hippogriff nodded in agreement.
“It was a good plan,” Vela tried to encourage him.

Flash nodded, “It doesn’t matter; the point was to find him, now we have.”

“Very grown up,” Starlight replied as she ran a hoof through his light blue hair.

“Thanks,” Flash said.

…………………………………….

Taz followed Red out the portal, noting with some distain just how quickly it closed up on him. He had to yank his tail out of the way to prevent it from being cut short, “You don’t have to be an ass, Red,” Taz snarled at the unicorn.

“Hmm? Oh, sorry about that,” Red said with a smile as he looked back, “I’m sure you’ll want to be calling it a night?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Taz replied as he started walking away. They both knew just what he was going to do before he fell asleep that night. He could not hide that fact if he wanted too. His member was almost touching the floor after seeing that display.

For some unknown reason, every time he tried to clear his head, to think about anything at all other then what he just saw, his mind went back to it. Beyond the few times he had walked in on his moms when he was younger, he had never seen anything like that in person. This was not that, that… that did nothing for him. This was something else; this was almost like a primal needed that his body was begging him to fill.

‘Maybe it’s just puberty?’ he asked himself.

He couldn’t think of an answer. His mind filled in the empty gap with images of Ataxia being rutted by Icarus. He pictured Aurora riding on top of Night. He saw Icarus fucking both his sisters at the same time. He saw himself riding on top of Nighttide.

‘Wait… that didn’t happen.’

He closed his eyes and refocused his thoughts on what did happen. Every time he did the image started off correct. It would be those very same ponies in the same crude acts that he witnessed first hoof. Then the oddest thing would happen. They would no longer be there, they would change, the pony on the receiving end would become Nighttide; the pony giving would become him.

He was bucking Nighttide. He was getting a rim job from her. He was kissing her, he was making out with her. She was sucking him off. Every image, every act became him and her. It was maddening. He had never, never thought about her like this before today.

He could not-not think about it. The thoughts and ideas became him. He stopped being able to picture the event as it went down and could only picture the changed ones. He could only imagine himself in that very same situation he watched Aurora, Ataxia, Icarus, and Night in but changed with him and her.

He walked head first into another pony.

“Hey, watch it!” Taz yelled as he fell back on his flank and started rubbing his head.

“Sorry,” a sweet voice said back to him.

A lump formed in his throat as he heard that voice. He stopped rubbing his forehead and looked up. It was as if fate itself just played its hand. He had walked right into the very pony he had been thinking about, been fantasizing about.

Nighttide slowly got to her hooves after Taz’s head had collided with her side. She glanced over in his direction and her face immediately went red as she noticed that ‘little’ Taz standing at full mast. She quickly looked away, “I’m sorry,” she said again as she made to leave.

“Nighttide,” Taz saying her name froze her in her tracks. It had been two weeks since she had last heard him call it out. Now, now hearing him say her name was almost as if he had used his talent to take away her ability to walk. She could not move from the spot even if she wanted too, and honestly, she did not.

She also could not look directly at him, not with him in his current position anyway.

“I… I…” Taz did not even notice what he was showing off. Seeing her here and now caused his mind to go blank. All the poor stallion felt was that primal need deep in his gut. He wanted to take her and make her his. He wanted her, he needed her. It became all-consuming in his mind.

Despite herself, Nighttide kept stealing glances, “Taz, you may want to…” she motioned her hoof down to his lower extremities.

Taz’s gaze followed her hoof. He cringed when he saw what she was talking about. His member was at full mast with no small amount of precum coating the tip, “I gotta go!” Taz shouted as he ran past her to his room. Embarrassment about being so revealed in front of her overrode his mind. Embarrassment and something else, something he could not fully describe. It was something that just made the whole situation that much more… more exciting.

It would be a long night for the poor colt. Oddly, whenever he would take care of his recurring problem, his thoughts turned not to the sex act he watched that night, but to Nighttide and the rather cute blush on her face.

For Nighttide’s part, when she watched him run off, she could not help but feel a wetness both between her legs and from her lips. Wiping her mouth clean she noticed with some distain that there was blood in it. She had bit her lip so hard it was bleeding.

She debated, and not for the first time, of following Taz to his room. However, she did not. It would have been lust, not love. He would have only hated her in the morning. That was something she could not deal with.

She loved him, she wanted him, she needed him in every definition of the world, but she would not simply take him. Not like that. It was meaningless unless he felt the same. She would not blow her chance with the stallion on a meaningless one night stand.

Even if she was sure that she would rock his world.

There was just one small problem with her plan to leave him be for the night. Her room was right next to his.

After being awake for an hour listening to the more than occasional ‘thump, thump, thump,’ from his bed hitting the wall, Nighttide could not take it anymore. She got up and walked out of her room to his. “Taz, I’m coming in!” Nighttide shouted. She knew what to expect and was not disappointed when she walked into his room.

Taz quickly threw a blanket over himself when she walked in on him, “What are you doing!” he shouted in embarrassment. Despite her warning she gave him no time to cover up.

Nighttide smiled as warmly as she could, “Relax, I know what you were doing, my room is right next to your’s. I know every time you do it.”

Taz had a black coat but you would not know it now. His face was beet red at that, “What… what do you want?”

Nighttide walked over and jumped up on his bed, “I know what my dad showed you. I’m… I’m sorry you had to go through that… through this.”

“Nighttide, I-”

“No, I’m not just referring to what happened today, I mean all of this, Dayspring as well. I… we wanted to help you; we wanted to take you from here. I… I’m sorry.”

He placed a hoof on her shoulder when he saw that she was crying, “It’s ok,” Taz said.

“No it’s not; you shouldn’t have seen that, it was wrong. I know… I know you’re a good stallion Taz. That… that was evil of him.”

“Hey, I don’t blame you for it,” Taz realized something when he said those words, he really did not. Nighttide might have lied to him all this time, she might have been ordered to make him love her, but she was still his friend, possibly more.

“I… I still want to help you.”

“Help me?” Taz asked, his question was answered as he felt Nighttide’s hoof move up the sheets, when her hoof ran over the sheets that did a rather poor job of hiding his throbbing member, he felt a pleasure that he had never experienced before. It was as if a spark traveled up and down his spine at the smallest touch, sending jolts of pleasure to every part of his brain. His mind instantly knew what she was referring to; he jumped back at that realization, “No need for that!” he pulled more and more blankets to cover himself up.

She paused, unsure what he meant.

“You don’t have to do that, Nighttide,” Taz said again when she made to restart.

“I want to, it’s the least I can do for you,” Nighttide said with a sad smile. After everything he had been through, everything she put him through, it was the least she could do for him. She owed him that much.

“Yeah, but I don’t want you to.”

If there was one phrase that could break her heart at that moment, it was the one he had just said. “You… you don’t?”

He noticed that she took it in the worst way possible, “It’s not that I don’t want you to, it’s that I don’t want you to right now,” Taz clarified, “Too much has happened today, I don’t want you to be mixed in with all of this.”

She looked at him, confused.

“I’d want it to be something I want to remember, not something mixed in with memories of seeing my sisters fuck like bunnies,” Taz looked down at that. He suddenly felt dirty for lack of a better term, “If… when we do something, I… I want it to be something memorable, in a good way.”

“Oh, you want me to leave then,” Nighttide said as she noted all the used tissues on the other side of his bed.

“Well… would you mind if we just talk for a while?” Taz asked.

“I’d love too,” Nighttide said as she wiped a tear from her eye. Despite what he said, she reached over and wrapped the stallion in a hug. It was one he was self-conscious about as little Taz was still at full mast, but he quickly started returning her hug.

She smiled as she felt it, Nighttide new, deep down in her heart, that there would come a day she would know everything there was to know about the stallion, including that, however, that day could wait. Right now, she was happy just to be talking to him again.

And talk they did. For an hour the two of them spent chatting away like the old friends they were on his bed. Talking about absolutely nothing and everything at the exact same time. It was in that conversation that Taz finally found the relief he had been craving for that night. Their conversation was only interrupted when a loud bang came from outside of the castle.

“What in the world?!” They both shouted as the same time.

They got up to see what had happened, or as the case may be, to see who had just arrived in Tartarus.

….

The six friends ran as fast as they could towards the direction the pegasus had fallen out of the sky. When they approached they found exactly what they had expected. In the wall of ice was a cave that led down, leading to a deep chasm that they knew would led to a place a pony might hide, that one might be able to escape detection.

A place Taz could have easily hidden.

“It’s dark,” Dayspring said as he looked down the hole.

“You’re not afraid of the dark are you?” Blaze asked as he playfully crouched low.

Dayspring shook his head, “No, just saying.”

“I’ll light it for us,” Ana said with a smile. Before she could even try Flash interrupted.

“It won’t work, Taz cancels magic, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Ana said sheepishly.

“C’mon guys, let’s get our friend back,” Starlight said as she led the way.

“Actually, why don’t you let Blaze and I lead the way,” Flash said.

“Yeah, we’ll do it!” Blaze chipped in.

“You guys coming or what?!” Ana shouted from in the hole, “We don’t have time for some dumb chivalrous attitude.”

“Try and do something nice!” Flash yelled as he ran after her. In retrospect, he should have guessed that she would not wait for them. This was the end of the journey for her. After three months they would finally get Taz back.

The others followed suit. Ana leading the way as she went deeper and deeper in the cave. The further in they went the darker it got. The darkness forced the party to slow down as they could no longer safely move at any real speed for fear of running into a wall.

It was wrong, very wrong, and they all knew it, “Guys, if Taz has been living down here, how does he see?” Starlight gulped as she asked the obvious question.

“TAZ!!!!” Ana called out, removing any pretense of stealth.

“Ahh, she misses her friend that much.”

“Blaze, shut up,” Flash said.

“Um, I didn’t say anything.”

“Then who was that?” Ana asked. She had a bad feeling about this, one that she could no longer deny.

“Six little foals, walking alone. One of them cries out for their amore and none are seen again,” a sing-song voice called out from the shadows.

Starlight suddenly knew two horrible truths: Taz was not here and they were not alone. She verified them both with her next actions. Charging up her horn, she lit up the entire cave.

It was the splash of water they all needed. They were indeed in the middle of a cave of ice and not alone. At the other side of the cave a shadow moved across the ground until it coalesced into a physical form.

One Ana and Starlight recognized. It was the blue pegasus from the shop in Canterlot.

“You!” Ana shouted.

“Me,” Ice replied with a smile, “You were so, so desperate to get your friend back that you came here all by yourself. I thank you for that. Foals like you make my job so easy,” he said maliciously as he approached the group, one step at a time.

All three tethers snapped at once. A clear indication that their lives were in danger. “Run,” Flash shouted as he jumped between the group and this pony.

“There’s nowhere to run to,” a second voice called out from the cave entrance.

Ana looked back and saw a dark red pegasus walking down to them.

The same one that was with the other in Canterlot.

The same one that ‘lost’ control of his flight not ten minutes ago.

They had walked right into a trap.

Author's Notes:

Best of Intentions, Worst of Results.