I sat there, my pistol by my side, feeling myself slowly slipping away. I hadn’t eaten or drank in I don’t know how long. I had very little spirit energy left now, in fact it was probably the only thing keeping me alive. Still, even that couldn’t last forever and I’d finally be able to let go…

A long white leg flashed past my vision, kicking the pistol away. It clattered as the thing skittered across the floor, I’d never had the courage to use it anyway. Bloody coward.

A blue eyed white face loomed in front of mine, a harsh blow smashing me across my head and sending me sprawling to the floor. I made no effort to move. The stallion grabbed my shoulders and shook me before brutally kicking me in the stomach. I probably would have retched if I had anything in there, but my stomach was distended from lack of food and I just jerked helplessly with the impact.

The pony was having a conversation with another which I could neither hear nor cared to, they could do what they bloody well wanted. Fuck them, I hope they enjoyed themselves; it could be my parting gift. My forelegs and hindlegs were shackled and a horn-lock clamped onto my horn to prevent any attempts at magic. I could have laughed, in fact, I think I did. The soldiers hoisted me up and between them, carried me from the chamber like a sack of grain. At least I didn’t have to walk, maybe they would help me off the tower? ‘Good view up there boys’, I thought madly to myself. My sanity was finally beginning to crack too it seemed.

Royal guards, several of them, were standing around on the rubble next to sky chariots and all staring at the grey pony chained and bound, bouncing along and giggling like a lunatic. Their officer didn’t seem too impressed either, strangely enough,

“Is that him? You’ve got to be kidding me” he sneered.

One of my guards looked at me askance, “He was the only one in there sir, and he fits the description.”

“Yes, he does doesn’t he. Looks like he’s at deaths door.”

“He was lying next to this sir”

The guard hoofed the officer my PDW.

“Hmmm, agency issue, the rest of his gear is too. It’s him alright. Come on boys, lets get him loaded and back to the barracks. I don’t like this place, it stinks of evil if you ask me.”

The enclosed carriage rocketed into the sky, with its grey pony cargo bouncing around in the back, kept in place with the odd kick from a guards hoof. Soon, battered, bruised, dehydrated and near starved to death, I was bodily flung into a cell. I didn’t recall much of the journey to be honest, just the floor of the carriage and the occasional hoof to the jaw. Top comfort and safety features in royal guard conveyances these days it seemed.

I lay there, too weak to move, empty and alone. I had no idea where I was, or why, or even cared for that matter. A small flap at the bottom of the door opened and a tray of porridge and a bowl of water was pushed in but I was helpless to reach it, my body was failing me…as it should, it wouldn’t be long now. I chuckled slightly, I’d probably not live long enough to meet my host, what a shame, oh dear!

I don’t know how much time passed. Whether it was day or night was impossible to say in that cell, there was no light, nor dark. A single lantern flickered in the corner of the dark, dank hole. What a place to die, still, it seemed appropriate somehow.

Hoofsteps outside caught my attention, keys rattling in the door before it opened to admit a flood of light from the brightly lit hallway. A dark coated mare entered, throwing back her hood and looking at me with deep azure eyes. Why did she look so sad?

“Thank you guard, you may leave us now.”

“Yes, you highness”

Your highness…pfff!

The mare ran her hooves over me and clicked her tongue. I was a disappointment on so many levels and she’d come to scoff at me even now had she?

“Oh Fairlight, how did it come to this…why did you go to that accursed place? I warned you, I pleaded with you. If only you had listened, the letter told you of the dangers there…and now, now you are…”

She caught herself and shook her mane, “It matters not, come my warrior, lift your head for me”.

The midnight mare lifted my head in her hooves, a small gasp escaping her lips when she saw how weak and frail I had become. Gently, she lifted the water to my lips, rubbing a little across the dry, cracked skin. It was cool and soothing, so wonderful…

I pushed away, or tried to, I may aswell have been trying to push a solid wall I was so devoid of strength.

“Leave…leave me, princess…” I croaked, “Just…let me go”

Luna clicked her tongue and brushed the mane from my eyes, “No. Why would you say that…how could I let you die and not try to save you?”

“I’m a monster”, I rattled, my throat dry like parchment, “…Tingles, I…I raped her. Please, princess…let me die”

Luna paused for a moment, good. That would do it, not even royalty would forgive such a crime against one of their subjects, and rightly so. The sudden shock of cold water dribbling down my throat made my body lurch, Luna had taken a mouthful and was slowly dribbling it into my mouth. What the hell was she thinking? Was she insane!?

She held me fast, making me take more and more of the water, lips clamped around mine and my bloody traitorous body reacted. I lapped at the water, felt its life giving strength dripping through my ravaged being. Satisfied, Luna levitated up the bowl and made me drink the rest which I did hungrily. I could feel life and strength running into me, re-invigorating me from muzzle to tail. What had she…? The water! I saw the silvery drops of life energy mixed in with it! Why? Oh Luna, what have you done?

The princess watched me with her serence gazed, “You will need your strength now, my warrior. I fear that there is little good I can do you, but I will try.”

“But why? Luna…why bring me this?”

“I won’t let you die Fairlight, I won’t see another pony pass from this world because of me.”

“Because of you?”

“I should have made you see sense, spoken to you. Instead, I was afraid you would be angry and so, I sent you the letter. Forgive me…I was wrong.”

“I never read it…”

She gasped, “What? Why not?!”

“I...just didn’t, I was distracted and by the time I remembered, it was…too late”.

“Oh Fairlight, its all my fault!” the princess began to tremble.

“No!” I reached up and caught her hoof in mine, “Don’t cry for me, please. There’s been too many tears on my account.”

She reached down and kissed me, actually kissed me, on the forehead,

“I know what happened to you at the fortress, Fairlight. There are books here at the palace which pre-date the war; reports and studies by visitors to the tribe, by scholars. They were better times than those that claimed the lives of your forefathers. Gods forgive me, I should have stopped you, but my duties here at the castle called me away and when I found you had gone, it was too late.”

That damned letter. If only I’d opened it, read the thing, I may not have gone. Tingles may have been…I wouldn’t have…

“What of Tingles and Shadow,” I asked, “are they safe?”

The princess nodded, lifting the bowl of porridge to me.

“Eat, eat and we will talk.”

I did my best to comply. I was still as weak as a kitten, but my life’s flame had been rekindled and I was slowly beginning to feel my body react to the food and life energy the princess had brought me.

“Good, that’s better.” Luna smiled sadly, “Tingles…the agency mare, she’s safe. I have not been able to speak to her since she returned however, forgive me.”

I shook my head, “Theres nothing to forgive, your majesty, what I did is a crime I alone must bear. At least she’s safe. Thank you for telling me, but…what of Shadow?”

She shook her head, “My sister…she knows. She discovered I have been travelling to the Wither world to seek your mate. Celestia has powers even I had never realised, and even in the dreamworld, she knew what I had been doing.”

Luna buried her muzzle into my neck, “I’m so sorry…so very sorry. I promised you I would re-unite you with Shadow and I failed. I failed you, like I failed you at the fortress”, she began to sob quietly, “like I failed…him”.

Failed me? Shadow…my thestral mare, lost in the Wither world. Even the princess with all her experience and magic hadn’t been able to help her. My heart sank, if Luna couldn’t succeed, what chance did Shadow have? Could I still do something to help her myself?

I put that thought to one side. I would think more on it later if I could. The princess said she had failed ‘him’?

I knew who she meant of course. Luna, the princess of the night, the nightmare of the moon; In her eyes, when she looked at me, she saw her long lost love…Maroc, the lord of the four winds. My heart cried out to her, I couldn’t give her what she wanted, there was no balm for her broken dreams.

Taking a deep breath I looked her in the eyes, “My princess, I found him…Maroc.”

“Wha…you did? What do you mean?”

She lifted her head, expectation written across her features. He’d been dead over a thousand years, and yet somehow, there was still that tiniest flicker of hope…what if he…

I shook my head, “I found his, his remains…in the pass. He had something with him.”

I was surprised I still had it. The guards had searched me, but only checked bandoliers, equipment and pockets. The tiny chain with its heart pendant was so small they must have missed it, or not thought it important. I fished it out of the remains of my battered flight suit with my hooves.

“Here…you should have this, it was his”

Luna levitated the pendant over to herself and stared at it, covering her mouth with both hooves, her eyes filling with tears, “Oh!”.

She held the tiny thing to her chest and kissed it, whispering “Maroc, my lord, I miss you so much…I loved you and I never told you…gods above…I never told you…”

Her tears fell like rain, wetting my coat. Once more, I’d made a mare cry. Was there anything I did that wouldn’t end in causing tears to flow? The feeling of self loathing was resurfacing, until Luna surprised me once again. I felt the chain and pendant float down around my neck, settling onto my chest,

“No…this belongs to you now. Maroc was gone a long time ago, I know that…of course I do.” She shook her mane, constellations shimmering in the stellar winds, “You are one of his children and this was a gift to Arathea, not to me, and as their descendant, it falls to you now.”

Tentatively, I reached over and hugged her. I had no right to really and half expected her to push away the impulsive stallion before her, “Thank you princess, I know you tried everything you could for Shadow, and for me. I fear I’ve brought trouble to your door with your sister, is there anything I can do for you?”

“No”, she sighed, “I fear the worst, my faithful stallion, my sisters wrath is legendary. I think you know that all too well. Most times she is a kind and benevolent ruler, but now, although we share the throne, there are matters I still have no say in. This is one of them,” she slammed a hoof down, “but by the gods I will make her listen!”

Luna stood and mussed my mane, smiling “Finish the meal and the water, my lord of the four winds. Whether you like it or not, that is who you are now. Soon enough, I fear my sister will call for you and you will know your fate. I will do what I can, but be assured I will not stand idly by and be silent witness to any more suffering on my account.”

The beautiful princess of the night rose to her hooves and knocked for the guard. As she left the cell, Luna looked back over her shoulder and gave a subtle wink. Well, that was unexpected! I was actually feeling a lot more like me. Still, the horror of what had happened in the fortress was weighing heavily on my heart, my potential fate with the princess too. I had been so eager to die, but now…I wasn’t so convinced. Luna was an alicorn I wanted to protect, one whom Maroc had served; was it something in my genetics? Whatever, it didn’t matter anyway. Right now I just wanted to sleep.

Guards dragged me bodily down the endless corridors of the palace, suspended once again, like some grey hunting trophy. They kicked me roughly to the floor and stood before a huge set of ornate double doors that lead, I guessed by their demeanour, to the throne room. Loud muffled voices beyond were raised in anger, Luna’s I recognised and one more…Celestia, it had to be. One of my guards readjusted his armour and knocked respectfully on the door, which glowed briefly with a golden light.

Silently, the huge portal swung open and I was pulled through past yet another set of guards. My chain made walking impossible, the horn lock blocking any magical ability and so I was, by and large, completely at their mercy.

Down the long gallery, they dragged me, along the thick red carpet, past huge stained glass windows until finally I stood before the two alicorns. The guards shoved me to the floor and placed sword to my neck, as if I was in any fit state to pose a risk to their beloved royalty. Regardless of what I thought personally of the princess, she was still the one I had sworn an oath to when I joined the watch; whether that meant anything to her, remained to be seen. The two of them stood below the steps to the thrones, in heated discussion.

“…have already told you Luna, I will not continue to discuss this further.”

“You have ‘told’ me? Big sister, you have not listened to anything I have said on the matter. The Wither world is my domain and my responsibility, you are not to interfere in…

“The Wither world is not your sole dominion sister ! Do you not remember what happened the last time you travelled there? We were plunged into civil war, years of suffering and death at the hooves of the ‘things’ you found in that place, all because of that vile spirit you ‘contracted’ when you were there. They are attracted to you because of who you are and so you are especially at risk. I will not allow that to happen again!”

“I do not need a history lesson Tia, I know all too well what happened, and what you did to me afterwards!

“How many times Luna, how many times?! We have been over this, again and again. You gave me no choice, would you have had me kill my own sister? Banishment was the only option,”

“But I have a responsibility to those creatures Tia, whether you approve of them or not, it does not matter. They may not be ponies, but they are living things and they need my help, our help”

Celestia ruffled her wings in irritation, “Living things? Those ‘things’ Luna, are beings of unadulterated evil, full of malice and cruelty. There was a reason they were put there in the Wither world, they cause nothing but fear and suffering wherever they go and I will NOT have them here in Equestria!”

I had to open my big mouth, “Is that why you butchered them your highness? Cut them down, foals, the weak, the sick, slaughtered to the last pony?”

She turned to face me, her alabaster coat shining in the filtered sunlight from the high stained glass windows. She was magnificent, terrible and beautiful all in one being. Her eyes opened wide in surprise momentarily then narrowed, her wings ruffling by her sides.

“Guards…leave us”

The royal guards bowed and left, leaving me alone with the princesses.

Celestia walked toward me slowly, “And here he is…the cause of all our problems, the source of all the suffering and misery that has befallen us. Here, I have you at last.”

Luna tried to stand between us, “Sister! You cannot lay the blame for all our woes at his hooves! He has proven his loyalty to us time and time again, he has saved ponies, foals too. He…”

“Be quiet Luna!”

Luna stopped, her mouth still hanging open while her sister whipped around to me, “There was a reason I did what I did all those years ago, ‘wendigo’. Yes…I know who you are, and what you are. Your race, your ‘tribe’ was a source of cruelty and evil which revelled in killing, and in war. Do you know how many of our children lost parents because of those…those things?”

“They were living creatures Celestia, they had thoughts and feelings of their own. They lived, they loved, they died, just like any other pony. They were not the only ones involved in the war, they were only a part of it.”

“Yes, they were. But one part of a whole does not negate its impact, ‘Fairlight’. You may have done good things here in service to the royal family and Equestria, but your hooves have been drenched in blood. Even from here, I can smell it on you.”

She peered down at me, wrinkling her nose, “You stink of death.”

I held my head up, I wasn’t going to show weakness before her, not now, “Your majesty, I have only ever served you. If what I have done was wrong, I beg for your forgiveness, but I have always done what I believed was right for Equestria.”

Luna placed a hoof on my shoulder, “Sister! Listen to him, he is loyal to you, he swore an oath. Please, Tia, just let him go, let me find his marefriend and re-unite them, it is all I ask. Please sis.”

I looked up into the big purple eyes of the princess of the sun, willing her to allow me to leave, to find Shadow and to go…to leave Equestria if I had to. But not like this, to be branded a criminal…it was too much.

Celestia closed her eyes, “You think I’m a fool don’t you…”

Luna cocked her head in confusion, “Tia?”

The princess of the sun rounded on her sister, “You don’t think I know what you’ve been doing? The sneaking, the manipulation…”

“I don’t understand…”

“Don’t lie to me Luna! I know all about ‘Equus’, your secret little toy which you had your pet work for. But see! He lies before you now, broken, damaged beyond repair. Lord of the four winds? Pah! Foalish nonsense!”

Celestia moved her mouth close to Lunas ear and spoke dangerously low, “Oh, and I know all about the ‘other things’ you’ve been doing with your pet, Luna. Your coat, your aura, stink of that…that thing!”

Luna stomped a hoof in anger, “Who I lay with is my concern sister and not yours! How dare you suppose to lecture me in who…”

“ENOUGH!”, Celestia’s horn glowed as bright as the sun, her eyes shining like supernova’s. Luna stepped back in fright as her sisters wings snapped out and she floated up into the air suspended by a massive magical build up. Celestia’s voice boomed through the halls,

“I will not allow another of these creatures to step foot upon Equestrian soil. To think of them breeding, to have more of their kind infesting our most sacred home…I say NO!”

This was it then…judgement time. Maelstrom had ordered me put to death, now Celestia too. It was becoming quite a habit this.

“Wendigo, your kind were driven from our lands a millennia ago. Yours are a forgotten people, one who should have remained that way. You are an aberration, a mistake…one that must be corrected.”

She held her gold shod hooves up to the ceiling, “Fairlight, you are to be taken from this castle, from Canterlot and Equestria, to be exiled to the wastes beyond the north, never to return on pain of death. Sentence is to be carried out immediately, the prisoner is to have no contact with anypony before he leaves.”

Luna cried out, “NO! Tia, for mothers sake, please don’t do this! How can you be so cruel…”

Celestia landed gracefully on the carpet and folded her wings, the pure white mare smiling down at the tearful Luna, “But I am merciful Luna, if I was not, I would have had him executed.”

Luna wiped her eyes, her voice trembling with emotion, “Times were different then Tia, so, so different. Don’t live in the past! Please…let him go!”

“My judgement has been made, the decision final…guards!”

I bowed to the princesses as the guards approached and addressed them, “Princess Celestia, your majesty. Before you banish me from Equestria, I will say this, ‘There can be no sun without shadow, no light without darkness, no day without night. All come together as one in the passing of the veil.’”

She stared at me, her ear twitching and raised a hoof, “Where…where did you learn that?”

“Fairlight…” Luna whispered.

“From the home of my ancestors” I said calmly, “I was led there by the ghost of a little foal, the son of Maroc, the one whose bones you left to bleach in the sun on a forsaken mountainside, abandoned and alone.”

“Oh!” Luna cried, looking away as tears streamed down her face.

The guards drew up alongside me, “You say I have the blood of ponies on my hooves Celestia, and I do. But I am not the only one who can smell blood and even after a thousand years, the smell never quite goes away.”

Celestia glowered at me but was noticeably shaken. She motioned to the guards, “Take him away”.