The crystal trees shone and glittered in the peculiar half life, the grass bowing with that strange breeze which would occasionally grace the Beyond with its presence. I sniffed at the air, my ears swivelling trying to get my bearings, I could hear something on the edge of my hearing. Crying. Straining my senses until I thought they’d snap, I picked up a smell, the faint scent of…cinnamon? A spicy warm smell I had begun to associate with…”Shadow!” I broke into a gallop, something I should never do without warming my limbs up first, but to hell with it, she was near, I knew it!

The crying was louder now, a longing, plaintive sound drawing me nearer, the smell itself dancing around my muzzle. My mind was lost in my desire to find my mate, my thestral, Shadow, but where was she? As near as she sounded, she was still so far away and I wasn’t making any headway. Goddess damn me, where the fuck was she? I ran on and on, up one hill and down another, darting between trees in my onward charge.

There, among the trees I saw her. A brief glimpse of a black coated mare, her long midnight mane and tail flowing out behind her. Her eyes caught mine, flaring red like burning forge fires. She called out to me, “Fairlight!”

“Shadow!” I called, “I’m coming love, stay there, I’m coming…” But no matter how near I came, she was as far away as ever, still calling to me over and over again.

I was desperate, my heart thundering, lungs bursting, this place was fucking with me and I wouldn’t let it win, I couldn’t!

Suddenly, the ground below me gave way and I plunged down into a gully, rocks, gravel and soil cascading down with me. Frantically, I called on my watch training and pulled in my legs and head to protect them from breaks. It wouldn’t help much if I slammed into a boulder, but it was the best hope I had. Faster and faster I tumbled until, with a hide grating slide, I came to a halt.

Quickly, I was on my hooves again and thank Luna, I was in one piece. Surprisingly in one piece actually, everything still attached and barely a scuff. Surely, I would have had at least some injury? Not that I was wishing one on myself of course.

A cry from above me grabbed my attention and I looked up to see Shadow, gripped in the talons of some monstrous thing. Oh my fucking Goddesses, it was the black war dragon, the thing from Maroc’s memories, the damned thing was still alive!

It laughed at me with its huge booming voice, directed partly into my mind and ears, it rattled my very soul, “She is mine now, toothless pony. The female will make me a good mate.”

“Fairlight!”, Shadow screamed, trying to escape the massive beast, “Fairlight!”.

“Goddesses no!”, I impotently swore. Reaching for the power, the calm, I clawed for it…my other self. I needed it now, I had to have the power to save her! Taking deep breaths, trying to slow my heat beat, did nothing at all. The power was gone, I didn’t even sense its presence.

Taking a step towards my beloved Shadow, the dragon simply laughed and with a mighty beat of his wings, took to the air and was a dot on the horizon in seconds. I tried to follow but my legs refused to obey me, what the hell was going on here? “Come on!”, I shouted at myself, was I paralysed with fear? I’d faced worse than that thing, “COME ON! DAMN YOU!”. Somepony answered.

“You want her?”

I span round, my legs suddenly freed, to face...I don’t know what it was. It was like me but white coated, blue maned with a wreath of white mist around its hind quarters. The ponies blue eyes burned with cold fire,

“You want her…this…thestral. She is your mate?”

He, it, whatever it was, knew me and I knew it. I’d never really seen myself as others saw me, but I could see why Tingles’ reaction was initially one of fear. The thing was huge, the air freezing around it as it watched me.

“Yes”, I replied, “You know I do.”

A hissing laugh emanated from the wendigo, white smoke leaking from its maw, “Yes, I know your heart, I know your memories, I know your soul.”

“This is a dream isn’t it?”, I asked.

It cocked its head on one side regarding me before shaking its mane, “A dream, a portal to the Wither world, reality and myth combined”

I wasn’t in the mood for cryptic answers, “What do you want spirit?”

“What do you want pony?” It hissed, baring its teeth.

“I want the power to rescue Shadow from the Wither world. I want the power to help Equestria. That, spirit, is what I want.”

“There is a price pony”

“I know”

“Do you?”, it laughed, “I will share my power with you, for we are already one…If divided”

I cringed a little, what the hell did that mean? “Let me guess, you want to live in the mortal realm.”

“Yes. I want to experience what you feel, light, breath, warmth, love. So…hungry.”

“I’m not killing ponies for you to feed on spirit, do you understand me?”

It laughed, “But you already have pony, have you not? Taking the life energy of one who is dead hurts nopony, their soul has already moved on.”

“But I’d still need to kill in order to gain that energy!” I said exasperated, “the berries give you energy”

“THE BERRIES!”, the wendigo lowered its front hooves and sent a roiling blast of white mist out to swirl around both of our hooves, “You would starve me! Starve us! We are hungry, always so…hungry.”

The thing was right, no matter how many of the berries I ate, there was always that feeling of emptiness, of needing to feed. Was this why the tribe of wendigo warriors were so warlike? To feed their spirit?

Its ears perked up suddenly, the blue eyes burning into mine with a bright intensity, “The orange mare…she offered herself to you. She would help fill us…so young…full of life…” Thick glistening white cloud like steam dripped to the ground between the spirits teeth, the damned thing was salivating. Feeling a dampness on my muzzle I was horrified to find that I was too, I was actually thinking about draining Tingles’ life from her and enjoying the thought of it!

“NO!”, I shouted at it, “No I will fucking not, she’s my friend. You, I, would kill her!”

The wendigo spirit seemed perplexed by my statement, “Are you not hungry brother? Your eyes dim and your coat lacks its sheen, you must feed or you will wither and die. She has offered herself to you, take her, take what she gives freely.”

“I said NO damn you! Let me out of this fucking nightmare now, you can’t make me your damned puppet!”

The spirit chuckled and in a different voice, one I had heard before somewhere, “Like you have a choice my friend”

Auntie was already packing my saddle bags with a flask and sandwiches for the return journey when I walked through the doorway. She nodded to me and disappeared into the kitchen, returning momentarily with a parcel wrapped in paper and string, “That old hat and coat of yours”, she said, “And something else too”.

She floated the package over and I immediately recognised what else was in there, “Dad’s old truncheon”.

“Found it with your things in the house”, Auntie replied solemnly, “I wouldn’t recommend going back there, but if you do, take this with you.”

She threw me a small bottle of shimmering white liquid. At my puzzled glance the grey mare explained, “A little something I concocted to help your father. Creates a dampening effect around you, lightens your hoof steps and eliminates any odours that may give you away. Ponies have big nosies remember?”

We both laughed, it was a classic from more care free days. When mum was at work, she would leave me with her sister and Pewter would play with me. She’d never had foals of her own, I never knew why nor asked. She would plop me on her knee and hold her forelegs out to each side, with me balanced there. Together we would say, “Ponies have big….” And she would grab my muzzle in her hooves shouting “..nosies!” making me fall about hysterically. I loved auntie, despite her weird ways. After today, I would probably not see her again for a while. I really should make the time.

Aunt Pewter passed me my saddle bags and kissed my muzzle, “You’re going now aren’t you. You could stay you know, you don’t owe these Celestian’s anything, Fairlight. You know that.”

I hung my head, “I know auntie, but as much as I love you, I don’t always agree with you. Equestria is my home and Luna has asked for my help. Without her, I don’t know what would have happened to me. I have my honour to uphold and Shadow to find too. The agency are my best hope of getting her back.”

She just smiled, quietly adjusting my pack, “I pray you get her back Fairlight, I really do. Your mother, my sister, died too young, far too young. You are her legacy, my nephew. For all we know, you could be the last of our tribe. Live your life, enjoy every second, but don’t forget your roots and who you are. You are loved, my little grey foal.”

I smiled at her and headed out the door, “Farewell auntie, I love you.”

With a final hug I headed out the door, closing it behind me. I half expected Tingles to be there, but the sky chariot sat empty. The cargo compartment held my parcel which I removed and placed in my pack. It was heavier than I would have like, but I had a strong back and could just about cope. First order of business though, I had to find a flyer, and the village taxi office was just the place.

Below us Manehattan was beginning to prepare for the evening. Lights across the city were starting to appear even as the sun was barely setting. The deep orange glow bathed the rooftops, sending the streets below into shadow, awaiting the lighting of the street lamps for the safety of its citizens.

The cabby called back over his shoulder, “Hey buddy, you sure ya wanna go there? I mean, its not the place anypony would go late ya know?”

I nodded, shouting back, “Yeah, I’m sure, its not far from my home anyway.”

He shrugged and took us down in a looping descent before the sky taxi bumped to a halt. The thing jarred the bones in my backside and I was reminded of how spoilt I’d been with Tingles’ flying skills. The cabby tipped his cap to me and with a few flaps of his wings, quickly disappeared into the darkening sky.

A series of ‘pinking’ sounds around me indicated the lights of the cemetery coming to life, unlike its residents. The flags had been taken down since the last time I was here, and the graves had already developed a covering of grass rather than bare earth. Here and there, somepony had placed flowers on the graves of the watchponies, including a new one…’Watch Chief Mitre’. I walked over to the marker and ran my hoof over the cold stone before plopping myself back on my haunches.

“I’m sorry Chief, I should have tried harder. It’s my fault you’re here…”, I drew a breath, closing my eyes, “I need you my old friend, I need your wisdom and guidance”. The only sound was the wind sighing through the silent expanse of the dead.

My trip to the village store had yielded an attractive bunch of marigolds. I knew Mitre liked them from when I’d overheard his conversation in the office with Shelly. It was more of an argument really I suppose, but that was their life, and they were happy in their own way. Personally, I couldn’t stand marigolds, far too bitter for my taste.

I picked myself up and walked up the next few paths until I reached my destination, the grave of Chief Apple Pop. And next to his…

Meadow
Beloved Wife of Watch Captain Fairlight
Rest in Peace

I closed my eyes against the tears, which began to trickle down my cheeks unbidden. Of course…what did I expect? I knew she would be here, with her family, “Meadow”. Next to hers was another marker, I made out the inscription in the failing glow from the setting sun,

Watch Captain Fairlight
Beloved Husband of Meadow
Rest in Peace

So simple and plain, ‘beloved husband’, ‘beloved wife’. Your name on a bit of stone, your ashes in the ground beneath and that was it, mate. You were gone, a ponies life quite literally reduced to ashes. Thank the goddesses that I knew we had the eternal herd, but even so, seeing it like this. My wife’s grave, my own grave. A dead pony looking at his own death, I was starting to give myself goose bumps.

Anyway, it was time to do what I came here to do. Hauling off my heavy pack, I magicked out the stone I’d collected from Chips. It sparkled slightly in the suns warm light and I smiled to myself while placing the stone marker in front of Meadows. The stone was just right, the dimensions perfect. Chips was indeed a master craftspony, the letters were gentle yet bold, clear and not intrusive. Running my hoof gently over the marker, I read the words out loud, “Sparrow Song, beloved daughter of Meadow and Twilight. Sleep well little one.”

That was it, the tears I had tried to hold back, broke forth and I lay down over the final resting place of my wife and child, my body wracked with grief. I dug my hooves into the ground, willing myself to be with them, to hold them. Goddesses I didn’t want to be in this world too long, but Shadow…Shadow was my anchor here. Meadow knew that too, and I wondered if it was partly why she’d approved of the thestral mare. My conflicting emotions were something I was still grappling with but this, tonight, was a step to accepting my past.

“Well, well, well!”

I looked up to see a dark shadowy figure standing some yards away from me.

“Well,well,well,well,well…well,well!”

Okay, there something seriously wrong with this guy and my guard was up like the hairs along my spine. I recognised the voice, oozing with borderline insanity, if he hadn’t tipped over the edge already.

Removing his sunglasses, Wists’ wide staring eyes shone, reflecting the orange glow of the setting sun, “If it isn’t my old pal, Agent Nox. Or should I say Fairlight, ex-captain of the Manehattan Watch!” He span in place rearing on his hind legs like some bizarre ballet dancer. “Come to bury your little wifey wifey?”, he put a hoof to his mouth in mock surprise, “Oh! That’s right you can’t can you? She’s already there.”

“Fuck off Wist, I don’t give a damn what you have to say”, I growled.

Fast as lightening, he produced a PDW and a pulse of light nicked my ear. I didn’t move, the bastard wasn’t going to frighten me.

“Now that wasn’t very polite now was it Chief? Not very nice at all…no, no, no. We simply MUST have good manner at all times, isn’t that right hmmm?”

I had the distinct feeling Wist wasn’t talking about me or the agency, something else was haunting this pony and it wasn’t something I wanted to find out about. I didn’t want this near my family, Sparrow shouldn’t see this.

“Wist, what do you want?” I asked him levelly.

He cackled madly, “Oh, we’re going to play a little game now Noxie me boy, and when I hear something I don’t like…POW! You lose a body part. How d’ya like that eh?”

For the first time, I wished I’d brought my magical sidearm with me. My bull headedness may have cost me my life here tonight. Well, looking on the bright side, they didn’t have far to take me for burial.

“You’re a big pony with a weapon in your hooves Wist, can’t abide the thought of losing can you? Not to the new guy?” I said levelly.

The agency ponies eyes bulged, “You fucking twat, you fucking, fucking TWAT! Its your fault my careers completely fucked. Everything was okay until YOU showed up and then its all ‘Nox’ this, and ‘Nox’ that. Its not even your real name is it! You’re a lie, a fucking fake!”

“So what it to be Wist?” I said smiling at him, ”Going to show the world just how big of a stallion you are by gunning me down unarmed, real tough pony eh? Bet the girls love you…”

“SHUT UP! You fucker, here…here’s something for you”, he took out his second pistol and unloaded it, placing the weapon on the ground. He placed the charger crystal next to it, all the while making insane giggling noises and talking to himself under his breath.

Wist backed away until the pistol and crystal lay between us, “You like the old westerns Noxie? I’m going to give you a chance, you pick up the pistol, load it and fire it. I’ll even holster mine for you to make it even, how’s that for you eh, new boy?”

“Goddesses, Wist, you call this fair? What the fucks got into you…”, I suddenly realised. The staring eyes, the chattering, “Celestia’s mercy, you’re a breeze addict”.

He screamed at me, foam flying from his muzzle, “What the fuck do you know?! You don’t know what I’ve seen, what I’ve done! Some fucking kid tries to shoot me and you act all self righteous, like I’ve done something wrong!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “Wist, you shot a foal, in the face…in the fucking face! What sort of stallion does that?”

He stomped a hoof, holstering his pistol and threw back the corner of his coat, “Enough talk Noxie…its time for you to die…again!” another round of manic giggling and he seemed to settle down. I eyed the pistol and its crystal, there was no chance of me getting to it, loading and firing before Wist turned me into a colander.

His horn glowed, “On three…..One!”

I wrapped the pistol in own magic, at the same time, reaching for the cold energy within me.

“Two!”

The spirit was hungry, aching for release, but even with its power, I was too close. I’d have to try and dodge, buy myself time to embrace the spirit. Wist’s manic grin spread even wider.

“Three!”

I dropped and rolled, his first shot frying a portion of my main and tail. The stink of burning hair which normally made me gag, was the last thing on my mind. Just as I began to feel the wendigo spread through me, a second shot punched through my shoulder, making me cry out in agony. The burning pain scalded through my brain and I reflexively dropped my grip on the wendigo’s spirit. The stink of burning flesh and hair filled the air, there was no missing it this time. The bastard had me.

“You know Noxie,” he said kneeling down next to me, “you should be saying ‘thank you’, after all, you’ll want to be with your wife wont you?” He giggled, throwing his head back and taking a deep breath.

“This ends now…” he levelled the pistol at my head.

“Fuck you, Wist you useless foal murdering shithead”, I spat at him.

He just smirked at me, the pistol pointing right…between…my eyes.

A scream of anger echoed across the cemetery, momentarily making Wist turn and face his perceived new threat. An orange Pegasus flew in, firing brilliant beams of green light at Wist. He dodged them all. I don’t know if it was the drugs in his system or natural reflexes, but goddesses he was fast. And a good shot too.

His second shot, took the Pegasus in the wing, a third hit the flying pony in the chest. There was a scream and it crashed into the ground heavily. Wist laughed at the sight, nonchalantly blowing a wisp of smoke away from the end of his weapon. Only the smoke wouldn’t go…He blew again, puzzlement etched on his face, he brushed at it with a hoof, finding it too was beginning to be wreathed in the wispy smoke.

I think he knew then, for his movements slowed and he looked back over his shoulder, ears flat and eyes shrinking to pinpoints. He looked up at me, bathed in the blue light from my eyes.

“Good play Chief”, he muttered.

In a rush of adrenalin, he blasted off three more shots from his pistol, each on target, each dissipated by the ethereal white fog surrounding my body. Wist tried to run, finding his hind legs frozen to the ground in a thick blue ice. Crying out, he pulled with a strength born of insanity and, sickeningly, his legs shattered, bursting into minute crystals of frozen bone, blood and sinew.

Wist crawled away, whimpering, trying to reload his PDW. An outstretched hoof knocked the pony to the ground, pinning him. He struggled madly, the pistols crystals spilling out across the ground, the magic around his horn flickering. He wouldn’t last long.

I looked down at his body below me and my hunger flared, the anger I felt for this…thing, a white hot fury. He had dared…DARED, to attack ME! He was nothing to me, a thing…worthless, a foal killer, murderer. A damned Celestian insect that needed stamping on, but first, he would provide me with what I needed from him. Oh yes, but…the drugs, the fool was full of them. I couldn’t take them directly or else risk contaminating myself. No, there was another way…

Wist lay before me giggling manically, he was going to pay for his arrogance and I could see it in his eyes that he knew it too. My forelegs pinning his to the ground, I tucked my head down and unleashed a beam of blue fire, hotter than the sun, colder than the frozen wastes of Tartarus. Slowly, I brought my head up, Wists eyes going wide as the energy sliced into him.

His shaking and cries thrilled me, the smell of his innards and the steam rising from his spilled entrails so enticing it was all I could do to stop myself plunging head long into them. The beam cut upwards, slowly, his gurgling shrieks an eroticism I felt throughout my entire body, setting my fur on edge.

His heart beat before my eyes, and then, with a final shudder, it stopped. Wist’s last tortured breath escaped into the night air, his life energy beginning to seep out. Gently, I breathed in, my jaws opening ever so slightly, tasting. As hungry as I was, I wouldn’t take in tainted energy, but no…this one had been prepared just right.

My tongue lolled out, lapping up the dead ponies life essence, pulling it in, sucking it down, a deep satisfying nourishment that made me hunger for more. Still…hungry, starving, the void inside me crying out to be filled.

I saw the orange Pegasus across the cemetery, she was still alive, but barely. She would make a fine second course, my maw salivated at the thought of tasting her essence.

Fog wreathed me and my intended meal, she looked so tender, young, energetic and full of life. My teeth chattered loudly, not from cold, but from anticipation. She had been shot by Wist’s pistol and needed urgent care or she would soon expire from her wounds. Smoke lifted from the entry wound, blood seeping out. Leaning down, my tongue snaked out and took a taste, iron rich and so…good.

Her eyes opened slowly, “Captain?...Fairlight…”

Tingles tried to stand, her legs shaking with the effort, my former watch colleague and partner, dying before my very eyes. I was going to take her life from her, to feed my hunger…”No…”, I breathed, “NO!”

The spirits voice raged through me, furious at being challenged, “Fool! She has offered herself to you and you would refuse her? Take the ponies life energy for your own, fill the need within you, within us. We must feed!”

“To hell with you demon, this pony is my friend, do you have any concept of what that means, other than to take what you want and leave nothing but death?”

“No.”

“Did your fellow spirits steal what they wanted from ponies, or did they join them. Become one with them, following them through their trials in life?”

It remained silent, brooding.

“I will save this young mares spirit and you will help me. In exchange, we will seek sustenance elsewhere. If she is still willing, then perhaps…”

“Perhaps!? This means NOTHING! You will destroy us both with you intransigent pony foolishness!”

“SILENCE! DO NOT DARE CHALLENGE ME” I bellowed at it with surprising force. My anger was rising rapidly, magic coursing through me, fire melding with the ice of the spirit, “I am no puppet of yours spirit! You will obey me in this.”

I felt more than heard, a quiet resignation, indignation and…a feeling of betrayal. This was not over, not yet.

Tingles tried to speak, blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. Quietly, I knelt before her and lifted her head in my hooves, turning her face to mine. Her eyes glistened in a mix of both wonder and fear, taking in my burning blue gaze. She knew about Shadow, during my recollection of my time in the Wither world, I’d explained everything to aunt Pewter. Tingles had been listening at the doorway to the kitchen. The tangerine mare had known about me but she had only fled when I refused her in favour of my aunt. Even so, she had come back, willing to throw her life away to save mine.

“Do you hear me spirit? If there is one thing I despise, it is ingratitude”.

The thing hissed at me from the recesses of my soul, I had won this battle.

Tingles’ voice, little more than a whisper, “Cap’?”

I leaned down to her, opening my maw slightly releasing a syrupy dribble of silver blue light into her mouth. Holding her so she wouldn’t spill any, my eyes surveyed her wound. As with Shadow when the lake serpent had ripped her open, Tingles’ wounds began to smoke and she moaned pitifully.

Her tongue lolled from the side of her mouth, it wasn’t enough, damn it I needed to do more. Pulling her mouth open, I clamped mine over hers, breathing my life into her body. The spirit pined for its lost life energy, but obeyed. I poured my essence, my life into the mare, sensing her life’s flame flicker and burst back into a vibrant light. Her wounds were closing, the light returning to her eyes, those big green eyes that matched her mane so well.

I could feel my body weakening slightly, this was putting a strain on me that would take more than a few berries to put right. Slowing the flow of energy, I pulled away from Tingles, feeling her strength flowing strong once more. As I went to stand, she lunged forward, surprising me with her urgency. Her forelegs locked around my neck and she pulled me into a kiss, long and deep. Her soft, warm tongue tasted mine.

“Mmmmm”, she moaned, the heat emanating from her was intense against my muzzle. I couldn’t withstand her advance. Weakness overtook me and my hind legs dumped my haunches onto the grass. My need for sustenance was being replaced with a desperate desire for this pony, my loins aching. The emptiness inside was not just from the wendigo’s incessant hunger, it was my own…I was so lonely, so horribly alone. This mare was before me, here, now, and I only needed to reach out and…

I broke the kiss. Damn it all, I didn’t want to, it was so hard. I wanted her, but for my own selfish reasons; to sate my desires, to swim in the satiation of my aching heart. Goddesses, this was wrong, but I wanted her so badly.

The green eyes looked up at me through long black lashes, “Fairlight?”

She reached up again for me, but coward that I am, I turned away, “I’m sorry Tingles, its not…please, not now. Forgive me…”

“Forgive you? You save my life and you ask me to forgive you? Captain Fairlight, I should apologise to you. I know how you feel about Meadow, and Shadow. I’d hoped that somehow, maybe…” She laughed, “Stupid me huh?”

I released my power, feeling the cold raw strength returning to another part of my being, becoming me again.

I reached out my foreleg and drew her into a hug, “You’re not stupid Tingles, I’m a fool, I always have been. I don’t deserve a friend like you”

Maybe I shouldn’t have hugged her, goddeses knew I was no good with females. She gave a little squeeze in return then stepped back, her eyes glistening. With a sniff, she motioned to the carriage park, “Come on then, Cap’, let head home before we get in trouble for being late back.”

I gave her the best smile I could, it wasn’t much. My heart felt like lead, just like my hooves as I clambered into the chariot. The tangerine mare put her TED on and spoke into it, “Warlock, you receiving me?”

I couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, mine was still stuffed in my jacket pocket.

“Yes sir, he’s here…yes sir, sanitisation is required...Understood sir…Received”

Tingles looked back over her shoulder, motioning towards Wists corpse, “They know he’s here, followed his PDW tracer. Cleanup crew’s on the way now, we’re to get back to base for a wash and brush up.”

I refused to look back at the destroyed body of Wist. Celestia’s tits, what had I done? Did I need to do all that to him, to kill him like that? Did I need to kill him at all? Hell fire, there must be some other way than this. But if there was, I had no idea what it was. Wishful thinking hadn’t saved Meadow and Sparrow. If I was fated to be the bringer of destruction to the enemies of this land, then I would do so to protect others, like Tingles, from harm. Somewhere deep inside, I heard a sarcastic chuckle.