In the lamplit room, a very tired looking Tingles sat nursing Lumin. The little fellow was feeding from her breast, his comedic looking tail swishing from side to side as he did so. His ears were so adorably cute I just wanted to squeeze him…

“Ow! Lumin! Ooooh…”

“What’s he done?” I asked curiously.

“His teeth,” Tingles groaned, “he’s got strong jaws and every so often the little beggar has a good nip.”

“Ha!” I chuckled, “Revenge of the stallion. Now you know how my poor ears feel!”

Tingles glowered at me, “My boobs are a hell of a lot more sensitive than your floppy lugs…’mister’ Salt.”

“Don’t start that again!”

“Well…honestly…” she rolled her eyes at me. I leaned across and kissed her nose before holding up the pendant, watching how its glow brightened as I turned in place, levitating my old compass in front of me as I did so. It was pointing north, across the everfree and towards the mountains. Damn it all, not again…

Tingles looked up at me, a sad look on her face, “You’re leaving soon, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

All I could do was nod.

“I want to come with you love”, she said quietly.

I turned to look out the window at the darkening sky, it was going to rain today, “I know, I want you to.”

“Lumin…”

I nodded, “He has to come first. He needs you.”

“He needs you too, you’re his dad”

“Tingles, I want you with me, but to take him with us to the Wither world?” I shook my head, “It’s a terrible place and not a place any sane pony would want to go, let alone take a foal.”

I sighed, stretching my hind legs, “I don’t know much about little ones, love. I don’t know if we can leave him here with somepony? What about Heather?”

Tingles shook her head, “She’s lovely Fairlight, but I’m worried about him, he’s so tiny and fragile.”

I sat next to her on the bed and snuggled in, “You’re his mother, love, the final decision is yours and I’ll stand by you whatever you decide.”

She looked up and sniffed back a tear, “I so want to come with you Fairlight, but with Lumin, he’s what we made together. I can’t risk him coming to harm.”

“What about aunt Pewter?” I asked hopefully.

“She’s a sweet old thing at heart, but I wouldn’t want to burden her at her age”

I certainly wouldn’t have said ‘sweet old thing’. Auntie had always been as mad as a box of frogs as far as I was concerned. Wise and a loved member of the family she may be, but still, she had that nutty side which I think went hoof in hoof with living in a cottage surrounded by skulls and wall to wall cats.

“So, that’s decided,” I announced firmly, “the next leg of the adventures of the lord of the four winds, a.k.a Rock Salt, will be a solo edition.”

“I’m sorry love, are you okay with it?”

“Of course, just take care of yourself and Lumin, I’ll let Mitre know whats happening and get ready for the trip.”

Tingles kissed me and we settled in for a quick snooze before spending the day making arrangements for my departure.

The following morning was fresh and cool, autumn was in the air and winter wouldn’t be far behind. It was still dark outside, the pre-dawn light just beginning to hint at the horizon. My flight suit, goggles, packs, food, weapons and gear, were all stowed and ready for the long flight to wherever. My flasks of life energy had been replenished by Mitre when he stopped by that morning to wish me luck and to assure me my family would be safe. ‘My family’…So simple to say, yet those words held so much meaning to me; I’d lost one, I wouldn’t lose the other. Shadow was a part of that family and she would be coming home soon, I’d make sure of that. She’d already waited too long by far.

My cloak had been mended, cleaned and stashed in one of the packs. Mitre, goddess bless his hooves, had also managed to recover the rest of my gear from the agency, courtesy of Brandy. According to my old watch Chief, it appeared that Luna had stood her ground against Celestia after all and it looked like Equus would end up becoming officially recognised as Luna’s special operations ponies. As for me, that was quite a different matter and the sisters had been in a quarrel about ‘The wendigo’ ever since. I felt terrible about being the cause of strife between two sisters, but Celestia was still the great destroyer in my eyes; a creature of merciless death and destruction. Maybe one day I could reconcile with her, but…well, who could say what the future held.

Mitre clopped me on the shoulder and gave me a fatherly hug before letting Tingles trot up, carrying Lumin,

“Take care out there love, be safe and come back soon.”

“I will, my beautiful pegasus,” I gave her a quick kiss, “…take care of our little guy. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“The harem continues to expand…” Mitre muttered rolling his eyes. I raised an eyebrow, turning to leave just as Grimble and a massive charcoal coloured minotaur walked in from outside.

Our griffin host held up a claw, “My lord, before you leave, please…”

Grimble reached into a bag slung over his shoulder, passing me a paper wrapped package, a bottle of brandy and a bag of his special tobacco. Thoughtfully he’d also included a pipe in a hard travelling case and a small box of cigars. I could have kissed him and I hid them in my pack quickly in case Tingles caught me with them. Thank the goddess she was too busy changing Lumin to notice my contraband.

“Thank you my friend, this means a lot to me” I smiled broadly to him.

We shook hooves, claws…ah! Whatever…

The giant minotaur was next. He snorted and rumbled something before handing me a large oil cloth wrapped package.

What in Equestria was this? I scrubbed my mane, “Er…thank you, mister…?”

“I am Vent”, he thumped his chest and grinned, showing his large bull teeth.

“Thanks Vent, may I open it?”

The big minotaur nodded and smiled at Grimble conspiratorially. The older griffin, leaned in to whisper to me, “Vent’s the local blacksmith, he’s a bit low on, um, you know…deaf as a post too.”

I opened the package warily, the smell of wood and oil from within catching my imagination. Inside was a very familiar folded construction of steel and wood, I gasped in surprise, “My scythe!”

Vent grinned, “Work well now! Vent work long days to fix”

Discords hairy arse, he had too; the blade shone like a mirror, catching the light. The haft had been carefully re-tooled as well and the mechanism now worked like clockwork. Who knew such big creatures could have such a delicate touch. I clopped Vent on the elbow, I couldn’t reach his shoulder, “You’ve excelled yourself Vent, thank you so much. Thank you everypony, minotaurs and griffins. I’ll need to be on my way now, but I won’t say ‘goodbye’, just…’see you soon’.”

I was stood outside the front door when I became aware of a large number of eyes focussed on me. They were all around me, accompanied by a variety of huffs, snorts and grunts. There were even some shining green, from the edge of the forest. It was all a bit unnerving to say the least…where all these villagers?

A voice which had all the audible qualities of a landslide, called out from the throng, “Lord Fairlight…we have come to wish you well on your journey.”

Silver Moss walked forward, moonlight catching on his polished horns and…armour? My goddesses, they were all in full armour. The wan light glinted upon the black and blue spiked battle gear, hi-liting the edges of sword, spears and axes.

“Will you light the torch?”

He held out a long piece of wood with rags tied around the end that had been soaked in something that smelled like pitch. Summoning a little magic, not much more than my party trick really, I held it to the torch and it rapidly burst into flame. The minotaur bowed, walking off around the mass of creatures, passing the flame from one to another, to another. Before my eyes the flames rippled out like a fan, with me at its focus. What the hell was I going to do now? And…somewhere, inside of me, I could feel Maroc’s memories bubbling away. This was as it should be. These were my people, the remnants of the tribe of the four winds. I dipped into his memories and found what was expected of me, but doing it myself…well, that was a different matter.

Grimble stood next to me, smiling expansively. I wonder what his real role is here? I’d have to ask him next time I saw him. Right now though…

I began to release the power, slowly, gradually, allowing the changes to build. Too much too quickly could burn my reserves off needlessly. I’d learnt a lot about my powers as I’d used them, and controlling the flow of energy and how it was released felt more natural now. To be honest, I thought it looked pretty cool too.

There was a collective gasp and a shuffling from the crowd as those at the back tried to see my transformation. Not much hope with those hulking minotaurs standing in the way though. Some of the winged villagers were flying up to have a better view and I could feel their eyes looking down on me. Suddenly, I felt incredibly self-conscious; I didn’t like being the centre of attention. Still, I had to do what was expected of me and shook my mane, taking a deep calming breath,

“Brother and Sisters…”, I began, “…for a thousand years you have waited here, true to your oaths, true to the family of the four winds. I came to you as unknowing as a newborn foal, unsure of who I was and my place in the world. Since that first meeting, I have found new strengths and new friends, both among the Equestrians and the people of Smiling Borders. It is my hope that together, we will forge a new path, and restore the glory of our forefathers.”

“My brothers and sisters,” I bowed, allowing the mist to flood out around me, swirling around the hooves, claws and feet of the assembled villagers, “I salute you all…”

There was a silence that lasted for only a second but had me worried I’d put my hoof in it, until Silver Moss bellowed at the top of his voice, holding his battle axe in the air,

“THE LORD OF THE FOUR WINDS HAS RETURNED!”

A brace of massive cheers filled the air, making my ears pop,

“URRAH! URRAH! URRAH!”

Lead by Silver Moss, the massed villagers went to one knee, bowing to me.

Grimble stood forward, speaking loud enough for all to hear, “My Lord, be safe on your journey. Our prayers to the moon reach you. Your foal will be safe with us, we would gladly die to the last to defend your family and honour.”

I nodded to Grimble and prepared my wings. As weird as this all was to me, it still felt…’right’, somehow, as if I’d done this before and I was going through a ceremony of sorts. Tingles suddenly lunged at me, grabbing me with her forelegs and kissed me passionately on the mouth,

“My lord of the four winds, eh? That’ll take some getting used to. Be careful out there and bring her back safely love, I’ll be waiting for you,” she nodded towards Heather who was cradling a sleeping Lumin, “…we all will”.

A spontaneous cheer went up as Tingles kissed me again and, with a leap, I took to the air. I had no idea where the crystal’s light would take me on my journey, but with a joyous heart, it was one I was excited to begin. Shadow would wait no longer.

The light from the torches, the cheers…my spirits soared as I rose up, out into the brightening dawn sky.