The sun was just rising when I awoke, Luna had curled into me on the rug before the hearth. The once crackling fire was now reduced to nothing more than a pile of warm ashes, still radiating some heat onto my back. Princess Luna sighed and snuggled into me before opening an eye to look at to me.

“Good morning”, she whispered before placing a kiss on my nose, “The moon has already set and my sister’s sun is rising in the sky, as sad as it is for me to say, you have your own duties to perform also my lord”

Pulling myself to my hooves, I stretched and gave an expansive yawn, I really wished she wouldn’t call me that. “My lady, would you please call me Fairlight? I find the title ‘lord’, a little strange.”

Luna shrugged, “Very well…Fairlight, I will grant you this, however wishes do not change what is. What you do is what makes you who you are”

I gave her a light nuzzle, pausing briefly, “Princess, you loved lord Maroc didn’t you? Why didn’t you…”

“Why didn’t I marry him? Mate myself to him?”, she paused, her eyes looking into a past I could never begin to comprehend, “It was a difficult time Captain, not one I wish to recall”

“I’m sorry your majesty, forgive me for being nosy”

“No…no Captain Fairlight, as his descendant, I don’t mind telling you”, she busied herself with tidying the scattered cushions and other objects from last nights activities, “I was in love with him, but at the time, I was not myself…my mind was elsewhere, focussed on matters that had nothing to do with those of the heart.”

Luna shook her mane and hugged me suddenly, “I missed my time, the opportunity had been right before me all the while and when I finally realised how foolish I had been…I had lost it all. Everything…even love”

With a gentle kiss, Luna turned away from me to collect her cloak, “Thank you for last night Captain, it mean a great deal to me. I may…’call’ on you again in the future, if that is agreeable? For now, go back to your duties and do not speak of last night to anypony, they may not ‘understand’.”

I bowed and backed toward the door, “As you wish my lady”. The midnight coloured mare watched me go. I just caught a glimpse of her face before I closed the heavy wooden door, she looked…sad.

Back in my billet, I checked the time. It was still early and I had a good hour to get showered and changed for the days briefing. Hopefully I was actually needed for something other than the mundane bollocks they’d been giving me lately. I had the distinct impression I wasn’t fully trusted, like I was a loose cannon or some such. Mind you, the letter had said to have a couple of days free before attending for a briefing so…yeah, I was being needlessly pessimistic. Time to go to work!

The shower block had been quite busy, ponies going about the business, brushing teeth, cleaning manes, the usual. My uniform had been placed in my room together with a bowl of those crystalline berries and…a bottle, the same glass bottle from the other night with Luna. No note, just a glass and a small flask. It was an ideal size to pop in my saddle bag when I went on missions and opening it revealed a small piece of paper inside. It read,

Thanks,

M

Well, short and sweet. Good old ‘M’! Just as I put it down, the heat radiating from the note warned me of its impending combustion. ‘Honestly’, I thought to myself as the small message disappeared in a ‘whoof’ of green flame, ‘I’m surprised the whole bloody place hasn’t gone up yet’.

I trotted down to the meeting after pocketing my usual issue agency gear and felt quite buoyant for once. I put it down to Luna’s ministrations. I was probably going to feel like shit later, but who cared. Right now, I felt good…great even! Ah, life, about flaming time.

A good mood though is like a soap bubble, all it takes is a little prick to ruin it and sure enough, he was stood in the doorway to the briefing room glaring at me as I approached. Warlock never said a word, his eyes told me all I need to know; he was seriously pissed off. It wouldn’t take a genius to work out why, he probably figured i’d had a right royal bollocking from the ‘Mistress’ after my display in his office. I didn’t want to cause a fuss, so I hung my head as I passed him. Just to make him feel better, bless him. I couldn’t help but privately smirk, even if it was a bit wrong of me. Just a bit.

The lights dimmed and the briefing officer walked to the podium which was set to the side of a large projection screen. The projector at the rear of the room loudly clattered a slide into place, ‘Operation Postal’, the letters read. Very dramatic, maybe we’d been upgraded to mailponies. Stifling a chuckle at my own joke, I quickly glanced left and right in case anypony heard my snort. Thank Celestia they hadn’t.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts,”, the officer began, “I know you are all already aware of the excellent work our agents here and abroad have done in tackling the scourge of organised crime.”

“You should already be aware that the human constructed weapons we’ve been seeing,” The slide changed to show a variety of weapons, “-smuggled into Equestria recently, have been re-designed when they arrived to fit pony anatomy.”

There was a general murmur of agreement.

“Several of these sites or ‘armouries’, have been targeted and shut down. Their property seized.”

A loud stomping of approval echoed around the room and the officer waved a hoof for quiet.

“These items are known as ‘firearms’ or ‘guns’.There are numerous designs and you should familiarise yourselves with them if you have not done so already.”

Why did I have the feeling he was looking at me ?

“The appendix to the briefing report has a list of the names, types and other details you will need to study.”

Ah, I thought my chair felt funny. I moved experimentally to one side and felt something sticking to an arse cheek. Daaaaamn! I nodded along with the rest like it was all understood and that I already knew exactly what he was talking about. Come to think of it, after what I’d seen at the warehouse, I probably knew more than anypony here.

The briefing continued, “Intel has been coming in to suggest that the latest batch of weapons have been coming in pre-made, that is custom made and not retro engineered.”

So, the humans were now tooling up to make the ‘guns’ for the Equestrian market. It was all a lot more organised than we’d previously thought. Our operation at the warehouse had probably been a minor setback to them before they started a new route up.

“Our supervision has decided that it is time to take the initiative and be more pro-active rather than re-active to the problems our home has been facing. Operation Postal is the first phase of our initiative. Our target…”

The projector clacked over a new slide. I stared wide eyed…

“…Is Ponyville post office.”

Dear goddesses! I used to work that patch! In fact, I used to chat with that funny little mare that had the really bad stigmatism. She was cute too, once you got used to the way she appeared like she was looking at you and up your nose at the same time.

“Several consignments of Breeze and Ryetalin have been intercepted which we believe have originated from this location. How the drugs have been getting to the office is unknown, however it is believed they may be bringing them in via a portal on site.”

That made sense, the mail could then be distributed across Equestria quite legitimately by unsuspecting mailponies. Interruption of the mail was a crime by royal edict and severely punished. It was handy to have the name ‘Celestia’ in your job title. I wondered if it would get me a little discount next time I went shopping…

“I’d like to introduce our guest speaker, Dr Bunsen of the CBI mountain facility.”

The familiar cerulean blue mare with the massive spectacles, stumbled up the steps to the podium.

“Um…er...yes, thank you agent…er…right!”, she pushed her glasses up her muzzle making her eyes look frighteningly large.

“This device, um…sorry, next slide please…yes, that one…”, a peculiar box like object with a dish on the top appeared in the next slide, “…this is a magical energy detector. You’ll have seen them before, for tracing objects and such like, but this one has many more functions than that old thing!”

She was beginning to sound excited, “It can be set to detect all sort of things, the limit is a ponies ‘imaaaaginaaaation’!”, she stood on her hind legs and waved her forelegs out before her in a semi circle, I half expected to see a rainbow. By the looks on the faces of the ponies in the briefing hall, they did too.

The briefing officer whispered something to the good doctor who tittered to herself, a hoof held to her mouth, “Sorry!…sorry everypony, I get quite excited by new gadgets you see! Anyway, we’ve calibrated this device to help us, that is…you, to detect and locate the particularly unique magical wave signature of a transdimensional portal activation. Quite simple really.”

A few ponies scratched their heads and muttered to one another.

“Thank you Doctor Bunsen.”, the officer announced, quickly helping usher the bespectacled mare from the podium.

One of the officers in the room held up a hoof, “Sir, how do we conduct the operation? Ponyville may be small but the post office is in the centre of town, there’ll be numerous witnesses and the risk of collateral damage should there be any resistance.”

The briefing officer nodded, “Next slide please”. The following picture was of a bizarre looking contraption, something like a steam engine.

“The operation is set to coincide with cider season in Ponyville. The apple family are notorious for running out of cider every year so we have a little side show planned to keep everypony occupied, and to keep us informed of any suspicious activity. Gentlecolts…”

He held out a hoof and two pale coated ponies in what I can only describe as carnival outfits, complete with boaters, trotted on stage with huge grins.

“Agents Cox and Pippin, will be masquerading as cider sellers to keep ponies away from the town should the apple’s run out of cider early. The machine in the slide, is the brainchild of the scientists at the hub.”

I could see Doctor Bunsen waving her hooves enthusiastically from the corner of the room. Everypony was trying desperately to avoid paying attention to her.

A cyan stallion next to me face hoofed when he saw the two gangly ponies on the stage, “Oh Celestia, not ‘Half Cox’ and…oh goddesses…Pippin”. I was tempted to ask what he was mumbling about, but the two were already leaving and the briefing picked up a notch.

“With the locals distracted, Alpha will provide perimeter security, Beta will provide sniper cover. Gamma team will move in from the front door and Delta from the loading bay doors to the rear. Epsilon, you will be held in reserve in case resistance proves greater than expected. We cant be caught with our pants down here everypony.”

A schematic of the building appeared on the screen.

“A copy of this is in your briefing papers…”, still stuck to my bum,”…take note of the times. There is expected to be minimal resistance as most of the postal workers will be regular ponies. Non lethal please everypony, we don’t need another coffee shop charnel house.”

Well at least they’d recognised that for the fuck up it was. This one had been thought through a bit better.

The briefing continued for a while longer, details of locations, times and leadership breakdown were discussed and orders relayed. The operation was set for tomorrow morning, early. The Ponyville ponies would likely be queuing for cider from dawn if not earlier according to the briefing, so to maximise our effect, we would need to set off from the Manehattan facility while it was still dark. An early bed was in order, but first, breakfast and facing Tingles.

She wasn’t at breakfast and if she’d been in the briefing, I missed her. Checking her room, she wasn’t there either. Maybe she’d gone for a check up with the Doc. After all, it was only the other day when she’d been shot out of the sky by the psychotic Wist.

I spent the day reading up on the now rather crumpled briefing paper, a little target practice, TED protocol training, and so on. The tannoy reminded everypony to retire early as it would be an early start. They weren’t joking either, we’d have to be up around 2:30am to get our gear and head off to Ponyville before dawn.

I dumped myself on my bed and rolled, rubbing my back into the rough top sheet. Not the same as the fields of auntie’s village by a long shot, but comfy. My saddle bag and pack sat unopened on the bureau, inviting me to investigate the contents.

Levitating my pack over, I undid the clasps and brought out the items she’d put in for me. It was a trip down memory lane alright, my watch, hat and coat I already had, but auntie had found more. My photo album, smelling a bit of smoke, but undamaged.

Meadow and I had never been one for photo’s, preferring to live in the now and not in the past as we looked at it. I’d always found it a bit unsettling, looking at photographs, and okay, maybe that was a little strange, but I’d rather look forward to what was going to happen rather than what had. Still, some of the pictures would evoke memories of a time before…’that’ happened. I closed my eyes and sighed, a hoof on the top of the album. I’d look at it later.

Out next came several jars of preserve, an almost glowing red goo inside glass containers, each secured with a little paper lid and elastic band. I couldn’t wait to have a taste! I found my knife, fork and spoon set in the saddlebags pocket and after a moment of fiddling with the lid, was soon humming in bliss as the sweet, tangy taste hit my tongue. It was a lot more potent than just eating the berries, I was even a little concerned about becoming ‘high’! So, just to be safe, I locked them in a cupboard for later enjoyment. Maybe with some toast too, if I could sneak into the canteen.

My mum and dad’s photo came next and I put that on the shelf, along with a brooch, she used to wear. A small spray of silver work and gem peacock feathers, one she’d worn nearly every day after dad passed away. I looked at it for a while, wondering what my folks would think of me now, but guessed that I’d probably find out some day. Goddesses, I hoped they’d be proud of me, mum would love me regardless no doubt, but dad, well…he could be cantankerous at the best of times.

A pocket knife, several other odds and ends which would be useful including a compass and water purifier were duly removed and put to one side. The smell of soap suggested that auntie had tried to remove the pervasive smell of burnt wood, but it was still clinging to the more porous items.

The heavier objects had been thoughtfully placed at the bottom, two leather bound tomes, each emblazoned with a white ponies head and inset with a tiny blue gem for the eye. So, not a pony then…a wendigo. I put them to one side, as the histories of the tribe, I suppose it fell to me to protect these for future generations. No pressure then…

Inside the top most volume, a small piece of paper was sticking out. Intrigued, I pulled out the note and read it, or rather tried to. The hoofwriting was so bloody difficult to read, I doubted the writer actually expected anypony to be able to understand it at all! Goddesses, it was like spaghetti, but at long last, I finally began to understand the lettering and could read the message that called out across the ages.

The army is gone, the lord slain, all our hopes are dashed. The princess has vanished and our connection to her severed, the Celestian’s have won.

Our fortress at four winds has been destroyed and our people butchered as they fled. I, along with several survivors, reached the caverns and escaped into the depths and what we believed was safety. Some fled north to the winter lands hoping to escape the fighting. Several of us, the wounded, the sick and the elderly, stayed in the caverns hoping for rescue.

The Celestians found us on the third day. They murdered everypony they found, none were spared except myself and two others who were still fit enough to run.

We hid for several weeks in the caverns until I decided to return to the fortress under the noses of the Equestrians to recover our most treasured of items, the histories of our people. If this is to be the end of the tribe of the four winds, then somepony must remember us.

To you who read this, I beg you to keep them safe, to remember us and who we were.

I warn you, do not seek the fortress of the four winds, it has been seeded with death by the forces of the light. Only death awaits you there.

Remember us,

Herath

Well, that was cheerful, I mused. It certainly tied in with what I had seem in Marocs ‘memory’ and what auntie told me. A slaughter, the Celestian army cutting down their enemy without mercy. My ancestors, killed by our benevolent ruler Celestia. Goddesses, no wonder auntie felt the way she did, but still, it was a long time ago and different times. I doubted that the vengeance of the Celestian’s was unprovoked and that they just liked killing. There was doubtless more to this war than I knew.

The adventurer in me was intrigued by the whole ‘fortress of the four winds’ thing, but ‘seeded with death’ kind of put me off a little. Okay, a lot! I much preferred staying alive and keeping my hooves firmly on the earth. Staying alive…not that long ago, all I could think of was death and being with Meadow. Had I really changed that much?

I was about to put the pack away when I found it was still a little heavier than expected. There was something in a side pocket I’d missed. Opening the strap, I magicked out a thick parcel tied with string. Within all the packaging was a framed black and white photograph, one I had taken some time ago…under a tree, in a park.

Meadow looked back at me, her big eyes unmistakable under the large floppy sun hat she liked to wear. Her long lashes, her smile…I could never forget how much I had loved her, how much I still did. I brought the photo to my muzzle and kissed her image, “I love you honey. Goddesses, I miss you so much…” Tears dropped onto the glass and I hugged the picture to my chest as my heart beat so hard I thought it would burst.

With a shake of my mane, I stood on my hind legs and placed the photo next to the one of my folks. I wished I had a picture of Shadow and Sparrow too, despite my aversion to photographs, but right now, I wanted to see them all so much it hurt.

I wiped my face with a damp flannel and got ready for bed, pulling back the sheets and wrapping myself in a fuzzy world of warmth. Sleep was just starting to tug me into its embrace when a creak from the door made my ears prick up. Opening one eye, I saw a sliver of light from the corridor spilling into my room and the dark shape of a pony enter, the door closed carefully behind them.

Reaching out quietly, I slipped my magic around the PDW and drew it back beneath the covers. After what had happened to me recently, there was no sense in taking chances. In the dark, the pony shape slipped into the bedroom,

“Fairlight? Are you asleep?”

I clicked the light on, “Celestia, Tingles! I thought you were an assassin!”. Letting out the breath I’d been holding in, I replaced the PDW back into its holster by the bed.

“I can’t sleep…can I…can I stay with you tonight?”

“Tingles, no…its not right, don’t…”

“Please? Please Fairlight, every time I close my eyes I see Wist’s face, that beam of light. Goddesses, I’m so frightened, I’m…”

How could I say no now? She was my partner and the fear in her eyes made my heart cry out to her.

“Come on then, you can have the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor”

She shook her head and smiled, “Mmmm, its your room…I’ll share”. I wasn’t sure what she meant until the tangerine mare leapt onto the bed, nearly sending my flying into the ceiling. I’ll say this for the beds at the agency, they were well sprung. A little too well sprung for my liking right then, why the hell didn’t she use her wings?

I felt her lie down on the top of the cover beside me and snuggle in, “Cap’, I know its presumptuous of me, I’m sorry.”

“Its okay”, I replied, “are you going to be warm enough? There’s another blanket in the airing cupbard.”

“No, I’m fine, I just want to feel close to somepony tonight. It’ll help me sleep.”

“Sure”

I went to turn the light off but my partner leaned across my shoulder stopping me. Looking up, I saw she was looking at the photographs.

“Is that her? Meadow?”

I smiled, “Yeah, that’s her. Taken on the first date we had together”

“She’s beautiful. I’m sorry you lost her Fairlight, I know what its like to lose one you love”

Tingles sighed and snuggled into me sharing my body heat.

“It hurts to be alone…”

I pulled my foreleg out from the sheets and placed it over hers giving it a little squeeze, “You’re not alone Tingles, I promise”

I heard the smallest of whimpers from her, “I…I thought you didn’t want me to work with you any more…”

“I still don’t, I can’t bear even the thought of you being hurt because of me. I keep seeing you lying on the ground, and it was all my fault. You nearly died trying to save me.”

“But, you did save me…”

“Tingles?”

“Cap’?”

“I never got a chance to say something to you that I should have when I had the chance”

“Whats that?”

“Thanks”

She leaned forward and gave my ear a little nip, “Next time, shoot them before they shoot me eh?”

We both chuckled and my dear friend laid her head across my neck, “Goodnight my Captain”.

“’Night Tingles.”

That had to be one of the best nights sleeps I’d had in a long time, despite being bear hugged by my companion when I tried to get up for the bathroom during the night.