The house was pitch black, the smell of burnt wood pervading everything. They’d sealed it up pretty well, but not well enough to deter a trained watch pony. And knowing where the spare key was kept is always a bonus I suppose.

The settee was still by the hearth, I ran my hoof over it recalling the scene. The smell of cooking, Meadows singing, the little looks she would give me, the ones reserved only for me. I closed my eyes and listened, there would be no more singing in this home, in fact, it wasn’t even a home now…at least not for the living. The only things here were ghosts and memories. Each turn brought my past back to me, haunting me with images of what was and what could have been, all lost long before the flames engulfed our dreams.

The kitchen was as I remembered it, my wendigo eye’s providing a surprising amount of clarity in the boarded up property. The fridge had been emptied, probably by auntie, she was thoughtful like that. Not that anypony expected me to magically return from the dead for a quick sandwich. My stomach grumbled at the thought of food and I rummaged through the cupboards until I found a tin of biscuits that surprisingly, were still virtually edible. Well, almost! The stale things were at least a change from the boring fare on offer at the facility, and needs must…

Memories continued to assail me from all sides and despite it being my home, I could feel my hackles go up when I entered the bedroom. The floorboards creaked and I caught a glimpse of what I thought was movement from the opposite corner. Quickly, I brushed the spirits power, keeping it ready, at the same time drawing my pistol. Quietly edging past the bed, I strained to make out whether anything was there…nothing. Damn it, I was seeing things even in my own house!

Whilst I was in here, I wondered if it would still be there. The old wardrobe had been built to last and with a handy compartment at the back with a hidden release switch. I’d installed it, not particularly in case of theft, but rather in case Meadow and I had any foals and we didn’t want them getting into things they shouldn’t. Sparrow would have had a time finding this place. Sparrow…Fuck, not the time, emotions can bloody well wait.

I swept my hoof over the inside and felt for the catch, with a click the door opened and I rummaged inside the compartment. Thank Celestia, they were still there. I pulled out the items and laid them on the bed, careful not to use my magic, the light could give away my presence to anypony watching. But here, in the darkness, I could see well enough to make out the shape of my dad’s old short sword and spare truncheon. The baldric was still in good condition and I was able to strap it under my coat as well as slip my truncheon into its pocket on the leather sling.

It was all very nostalgic. My time in the Wither world had been the last time I’d used a sword and in some ways, I’d hoped it would be the last. But now, I’d take all the help I could get and dad’s sword was a reminder of him to boot.

Fuck! A scratching under the bed made me jump and I clambered on the bed, pistol ready, what the hell was that?

I waited, my heart pounding and sweat breaking out on my brow. Images of ghosts and spirits infiltrated my equine mind making my adrenaline levels peak. I knew I was probably being foalish, but goddesses, I didn’t like this.

The scratching noise came again, and the bedcovers moved slightly. A pitiful whimper emanated from beneath and I moved slowly to the edge, “Whoever, or whatever you are, you’d better come out,” I whispered, “fair warning, I’m armed”

A small gasp, like a foal’s, caught my attention and with a deep breath I climbed off the bed and lifted the covers with a flourish. I don’t know who was more frightened, me or the owner of the bright red eyes glinting in the blackness under the bed. Whoever or whatever they belonged to, backed away from me.

“Come out,” I hissed, “I’m not going to hurt you, but I don’t have time for this. Please.”

A few seconds passed before a quavering voice came out from the owner of the glistening eyes, “Are…are you going to take me away too?”

“What? No…no of course not. I’m with the agency, I protect ponies. Come out, I promise I wont hurt you, okay?”

“I want my mummy!”, the voice said full of fear and sadness. Whoever it was began to sob quietly. It would have been heart wrenching if I hadn’t nearly pissed myself in fright at the surreal experience. Goddesses I wasn’t good with supernatural stuff, well, okay I spoke to dead ponies on an alarmingly regular basis, but that was different. Wasn’t it?

The eyes blinked and moved forward toward me, until the head of a tiny foal appeared peering up at me. The child, barely old enough to be on his own, came out from his hiding place shaking in fear. For Luna’s sake, what was he doing under my bed?!

“Where’s mummy? D’you know where she is?”, he sniffed wiping a tear away from his big eyes. I wasn’t good with kids and I certainly didn’t have time to foal sit now.

“Sorry little one, I don’t, but I’ll help you find her okay?”

He smiled weakly and nodded, “I’m hungry”. My heart ached for the little fellow, and I gave him the rest of the biscuits I’d found and water from my canteen. He was so thin I could see his ribs.

“I’m Nox, what’s your name little guy?”, I asked him trying to sound cheerful.

“Brandy Snap... Are you a watch pony? You’ve got a funny name”

“I used to be in the watch, i’m with the agency now, we work for the princesses. Can you tell my why you’re in my house?”

He gobbled down the last of the biscuits and looked over at me, “The bad ponies came and took mummy and my sister. I ran away. This house has a hole in it and I got in. Is this your house?”

“Yeah”, I nodded to him. I checked the watch, it was nearly 6:00am, the post would be arriving soon.

“Listen Brandy, I have an important job to do and I want you to be a good foal and stay under the bed and keep quiet. Can you do that for me?”

He nodded and without another word, shot back under the bed as I replaced the covers. “Stay there Brandy, okay?”

“Okay mister Nox, are you coming back?” came the muffled reply.

“Yes, and then we’ll find your mummy and sister, deal?”

“Mmmhmmm”

A moment later, the letter box opened and several heavy parcels were pushed through followed by the sound of wings as the mailmare took off to her next delivery. Good old Miss Hooves, I’d have to make sure I supplied the mare with an extra large box of muffins for this one. Now, all I had to do was wait. I just wished I didn’t have to worry about a foal in case things got…interesting.

I didn’t have long to wait, the sound of hoof steps approached the front door. With a click, the door was unlocked and then pushed open. Even with my unnatural eyesight, I had some trouble seeing in this light and I had to make sure to wear the sunglasses to disguise their glow too. Might have been fun to see their reaction none the less…

Whoever it was collected the parcels and walked away into the night. I turned to Brandy under the bed, “Okay Brandy, I’m going to leave you here until a friend of mine comes to get you, she’s called Tingles and she’s got an orange coat and green eyes. Do what she tells you and be a good foal okay?”

“Okay”

I edged to the door and saw the cloaked figure climb into a sky chariot and take flight straight away. I rushed to the door and hit the transmit button, “Tingles, I’m ready, they’ve taken the bait. Listen, there’s a foal in here, you’ll have to pick him up, I’m going after them on hoof.”

“What!? Are you crazy? You cant do that, you don’t know where they’re going, we’ll lose them!”

I ran off into the night, releasing the power, my wings bursting from my back and carrying me up into the dark sky. “You’re not the only one with wings, you know. Please Tingles, we can’t leave him there, he knows something that can help us.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do, okay? Get him to safety and then catch me up”

“Damn it Cap! Okay…bugger it all…”

She was picking up my habit of swearing lately. Fairlight, the bad influence on any pony. Sighing, I kept my altitude low and swept out above the roof tops keeping an eye on the chariot in the distance. Hopefully, they wouldn’t spot me behind them, but I was a good distance back using full advantage of my ’freaky eyes’. Thanks, Wist for that comment…

The chariot was heading for the docks, right to where I had a hunch it would be, Shire Wharf. Goddesses, I had hoped I’d been wrong, but there it was, the damned place was probably still soaked in the blood of my comrades in the watch. Whoever was behind this was going to regret it, right after I’d fed them their own balls.

The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon when the chariot landed in the shadows behind the warehouse. Using the clouds as cover, I watched the two of them, the pilot and passenger, climb out and enter the side door of the warehouse. It was the same bloody door I had entered through, but there was no way I was using it this time. If somehow they knew they were being followed, a hole in the head would more than likely await me on the other side.

The entrance at the top of the gangway on the opposite side of the building, led to the office above the main warehouse floor. Thankfully, it was unlocked. With a little push and a nudge I was inside, slightly surprised, yet thankful they obviously weren’t expecting company. Were they getting sloppy? Maybe a different gang? Too many questions and not enough answers, but with any luck, I’d get some shortly. In the items from my house were my spare tactical hoof covers that helped muffle sound and gave better grip. Being a bit of a hoarder, I’d kept a spare pair hanging up In the wardrobe. Thanks be to Luna for that, I’d have to speak to the stores pony at the agency to get these in for our operations in future.

The inner door was unlocked, but I sensed something…a presence nearby. Pausing and listening intently, I could definitely hear breathing from the other side. Somepony was there, possibly a guard, I couldn’t tell. Testing the hinges with a hoof, I found they were still oiled from last time. I could quietly open the door and neutralise the pony on the other side, but it was a risk, maybe too much so.

There was another way, there had to be. Looking around the room, I saw a small metal nut and picked it up, throwing in behind me onto the metal gantry outside.

My plan worked, at least so far. The inner door opened and the dark shape of a pony walked in. They were cloaked and wearing one of those ‘gun’ things strapped to their back, a ‘firing mechanism’ held in their mouth. Reading the familiarisation document had actually been useful, despite being creased to hell. But knowing the names of the components wouldn’t help me with what I did next, that was all up to me.

I stepped quietly from the shadows and rammed my ‘shocker’ into the unsuspecting creature’s neck and with a thankfully quiet fizzing noise, they collapsed into my waiting hooves. I lowered the pony down to the floor and removed their cloak and gear, no sense in standing out, besides, this guy would be out for a good hour at least.

Wriggling into the harness was awkward but the weight was surprisingly light. The levers were intended for pony use but still a bit cumbersome. The briefing paper had covered this in detail but didn’t allow for the uncomfortable and altogether horrible experience of putting somepony elses bit in your mouth. Ugh! The guy must have had terrible teeth or been eating something off the floor for it to taste this bad! Still, no time to stand on ceremony, I had a job to do. I moved quietly through the now open door.

The warehouse interior was much the same as I remembered it, minus the ‘bullet’ holes. Those funny little bits of metal could have turned me into paste as they had with so many of my friends that night. We’d had no idea what we were up against but now, wiser and, I hoped more prepared, we had something approaching a fighting chance.

I moved to the landing and peered down, a pony waved up at me and I waved back signalling all was well. Down in the darkness, several lanterns had been set up and a group of ponies waited quietly talking between themselves, the boxes from my house sitting on a packing crate next to them. Patience was something needed on jobs like this but fortunately for me, I didn’t have to hang around for more than a few minutes before the side door opened again and two more ponies trotted in. One of them, the largest of the group, was clearly annoyed if their body language was anything to go by.

“What the fuck are you doing dragging me out here at this hour?” The mare, judging by the voice, had a heavy sounding accent, one I vaguely recognised but couldn't quite but my hoof on.

“Someponies been messing with the merchandise” one of the others said pushing another forward; A slim pony, the one who’d collected the parcels, glared back at his harasser,

“Bullshit! I never had time to do anything, I came straight here!”

Another pony spoke up, “Its true, he went straight to the house and back to the chariot. We came here immediately, as we planned.”

The large mare walked over to the parcel and examined the packaging, “Its been opened. Check his pockets and the chariot, if there’s even a grain missing you’ll be a fucking stain on the floor when I’m finished with you”.

The pony quailed, “I never took any! For Celestia’s sake, I wouldn’t betray you Bl…”

Quick as a flash, her foreleg swung out and smashed the stallion in the jaw, lifting him off his hooves and sending him crashing into a pile of packing crates. She rushed over to him and brought a hoof down on his head, “How many fucking times do I have to tell you not to use my name! Why do I have to work with such fucking cock’s as you!?”

She stomped down on the hapless male again and again, foam flying from her mouth, the sound of hoof hitting bone echoed around the warehouse. The ponies whimpers and cries gradually subsiding to nothing more than a rattling breathing. The other ponies did nothing to intervene, whoever she was, she had them in awe of her…or fear. The male stopped moving and she backed away sweating. Shaking herself, the telltale movement of wings beneath her cloak showed all I needed to know, the last piece of the puzzle was put into place.

“Oh goddesses no…not you, please no…”, I whispered to myself under my breath. The last time I’d seen her, she’d been mourning the loss of her lover. She’d been a comrade in the watch, not necessarily a friend, but a workmate. We were a team, all of us, what the fuck was she doing here, doing…this? How could she…

My train of thought was interrupted by the pony coming back in from inspecting the chariot, “Nothing there ma’am”.

“And the package?”

One of the others had checked the box and nodded his head to her, “Looks like its all here”.

“Damn! Check it for bugs.” She ordered.

One of those assembled produced a device and waved it over the box, shaking his head, “Nothing”.

“Fuck it, something stinks here, we’re being set up, and you dickheads have brought me here too. Shit, lets get the fuck…” She paused, bringing up a small brass device to her ear. I strained to listen but could only hear muffled words from the thing. The big mare waved a hoof and one of them rushed out the side door.

“Come on, its time to go.” She said, her voice sounding suddenly a lot more neutral than I’d expected. The ponies collected the boxes and packed them into their saddle bags. Two of their number collected their fallen comrade, he was still alive but barely.

As they were leaving, the big pony stopped and threw back her hood, “Wont you be joining us Captain?”.

I started, oh fuck! She knew I was here! Backing quickly into the office, I turned in time to see a purple unicorn jam a gun barrel into my face, “Make a move agency pony and I’ll turn you into a fucking sieve.”

Two other pegasi trotted into the room and pointed guns at me. There was no way I could fight my way out of this one. Two others were coming up the steps on the other side. I made a quick calculation of my chances, they were not good. In any case, I’d get a chance to meet the lady herself and, it would seem, she wanted to see me too.

Shoving me roughly down the stairs, the ponies pushed me at gun point to stand before their leader. The mare’s unusual jade eyes looked me over with a slightly indifferent air,

“Take off your sunglasses, nice and easy”

The business end of one of the guns shoved behind my ear, I carefully removed my sunglasses and put them in my pocket. Some of them gasped as they took in the sight of my glowing blue eyes. The pony in front of me however, didn’t so much as flinch, but I still noticed her pupils widen momentarily.

“My Goddesses,” she breathed, “I didn’t want to believe it, but its you. The scar, the broken horn and…and those eyes, but…yes…its you, isn’t it?”

“Hello, Blaze” I smiled, “Looks like grey is this years in colour”.

She laughed, making the ponies around her shift nervously, “Oh Captain! You always were a card! But I’m afraid you’ve blundered into my business activities at a rather bad time, wouldn’t you say?”

“It sure looks that way Blaze. Care to explain? I mean, its been a while and all”

She hung her head, “Yes…yes it has Captain. Last I heard, you were dead, burnt up in that cabin. We tried to help you, to save you, you know that? And all the time…you were alive.”

Blazes voice took on a dangerous tone, “Bet that gave you a good laugh eh? Had a real good laugh at our expense. Whooping it up while we buried you, shed tears for you?”

I kept my voice neutral, “It wasn’t like that Blaze, I had no say in what happened. The agency do things their own way, you know that. Besides, do you think I staged the murder of my wife and Mitre as well?”

She shook her mane, “I cried for you Captain, you know…like I cried for Dawn, when I buried her too. Something…broke in me that day, the watch, the princesses, all of it. What was it all for?”

“So what, you’re blaming the deaths of ponies to justify,” I waved a hoof around me, “all this? Do you realise the misery, pain and death you’re spreading by dealing in this shit, Blaze? After all we went through, together as a team, you’ll throw it all away for bits? Is that what this is all for? Bits?!”

She stepped forward and glared into my eyes, “What the fuck would you know? This whole rotten place is a façade, a lie. All of it Captain, we’re fighting a war we can’t win and Dawn, my Dawn, was butchered fighting for those cloistered fucking bitches in their ivory tower!”

Blaze spat on the floor, “Do you think they gave a fuck about you, Meadow, Mitre, Dawn, all the others who died that day?”

Her anger peaked, “NO! Not one of those fucking alicorns bothered a feather to come and pay their respects to our brothers and sisters. So fuck them! And fuck Equestria too! I’m going to make as much money as I can from this rotting carcase of lies and get the fuck out of here before the whole stinking place falls in on itself”

“Goddesses Blaze! I cant believe you’re the same pony I worked with, you were a sister to us, a friend. We swore an oath to protect Equestria and its ponies, the princesses too. The watch are there to help those who can’t help themselves and here you are, helping yourself. Blaze, cant you see how wrong this is? For the goddesses sake, stop this before it goes too far!”

She hung her head slightly, a tear glistening in her eye, “I can’t Fairlight, it’s gone too far now. There’s no turning back for me, not for any of us. Celestia doesn’t forgive, you don’t know what happens to ponies who don’t fit into her ideal world…”

“I do Blaze, and its shit like the powder you’re selling that’s causing it. Please, stop this and I’ll do what I can for you. Please Blaze…”

For a moment, I actually thought she would agree with me and all this mess would come to a stop. But, forever the optimist Fairlight, it was all too obvious.

“I’m sorry Captain, but its too late for me now. The things I’ve done, that I’ve seen…” She nodded to a pony beside me, “You should have left things alone, and really, you should have stayed dead.”

A bolt of energy surged through me and sparks flashed in my eyes as I crashed to the ground.

“Put him on the ship and bind his arms and legs. Oh, and put a neutraliser on that horn of his, I wouldn’t want any more…surprises.”

Darkness pushed in on me until one of them decided to make sure of the job and hit me with another pulse of energy, sending me down into sweet unconsciousness. This time, I didn’t think I’d be coming back.