It was a beautiful morning, the sun peeking over the tops of the distant mountains and lending a mysterious haze to the forest before me. The Everfree was an enchanting if deadly place for the unwary and being this close to it was both a blessing and a curse. Ponies would seldom travel out this way and more often than not, gave the forest a wide berth. This helped us to remain undisturbed and the ramshackle appearance of Smiling Borders was probably the reason the army hadn’t been here. Either that or they’d simply given up on finding me, thinking I’d been become yet another casualty in the caves. The flip side of living so close to the forest of course, was that the creatures who inhabited it could wander out and cause problems in the village. That said, I had to admit we hadn’t had any real trouble here since my encounter with the timber wolves.

Our friendly local woodworker, Bright Tail, another of Grimble’s griffin contingent, had been working to help restore the tavern to its former glory. Or stop it from falling in on our heads, which would be just as welcome. The old place didn’t leak any more either and with the forest acting as a wind break, we seldom got hit with the dreadful storms which were noted for suddenly springing up over the Everfree.

Tingles and I shared a room with Shadow. The three of us had knocked through two of them to make one large one and the extra space had proved to be essential. Living with two mares was a struggle at times, but Shadow was so understanding and quiet, she acted as a remarkably calming influence on the rest of us if things ever got heated. And, of course, they did from time to time. Tingles and I would argue, shout, and storm about slamming doors, but it was all part of life’s rich pageant I suppose. I loved the girls and they loved me, of that I had no doubt, and Meadow…well, she was still my wife even if she was with the herd now. My little Sparrow Song had grown so much, she could speak now…a little. She knew I was her dad and had played with Tarragon and Lumin while the three mares and I shared stories and ate together.

Most surprising for me was when Luna had appeared one evening with Mitre and, I was happy to see, Brandy Wine from the agency. They’d brought some more of my belongings they’d recovered including Tingles’. One of the items, rather touchingly, was the photograph of me which had gone missing from my room. It had been stored with her things when she’d left to be with me. Brandy and Luna had apparently told Warlock she’d been ‘reassigned’, but whether he believed them or not remained to be seen. In any case, other than the good people of the village, I’d not seen mane nor tail of anypony other than these three.

Luna was as cautious as always, keeping her cloak on until she was inside the tavern and assured that nopony would disturb us. Grimble had posted two minotaur warriors outside, just in case. But what struck me as a little strange, was why she didn’t use her own guards to bring her. Surely she had somepony she could trust?

The princess warmed herself by the fire and gratefully accepted a brandy and a selection of snacks from the newly equipped kitchen. Our head waitress lumbered in a few moments later, wearing a dark blue pinny with silver trim she’d quickly donned when Luna had arrived. ‘Very thoughtful of her’, I thought to myself with a wry grin.

Heather was incredibly efficient at her job and, I suspected, quite deadly if riled. Tingles was very protective of her too and would spend many an hour in the kitchen helping the minotaur learn new recipes and was quite happy to teach them to anypony else who was interested. Shadow sometimes got involved, but most often spent time playing with Lumin or Tarragon, giving me ‘that’ look. She was desperate to go to the fortress, but…I wasn’t so sure, couldn’t we just…you know, here? I was very wary of that place; it had bad memories, very bad memories, on several levels.

Mitre watched me quietly with an inscrutable look; that scarred blue coat of his showing me the old fellow’s battle wounds, wounds received in service to the ponies of Manehattan. My dad’s coat had look like that too later in life. It was only really the wendigo inside me that prevented my hide from looking like a patchwork quilt too, although oddly enough, the scar I had across my face had never disappeared. But nopony even bothered mentioning it now. Not that I really went anywhere other than Smiling Borders these days.

Luna stared into the flames while speaking, “Lord Fairlight…do you mind if we call you that now?”

“No, my lady”, I answered honestly. Luna chuckled, but Mitre gave me a disapproving look at my lack of official etiquette. The princess still held a candle for Maroc I suspected.

“We…that is, ‘I’ understand that your mission was successful?” she looked about the room, “Where is the lady Shadow?”

“Forgive me my lady, Shadow is at the glade with Tingles and Meadow, the children too.”

“Children…you have two foals now, do you not?”

“I do, one with the herd and one here, Sparrow Song and Lumin”

She hung her head slightly, “Foals…Yes, I’d like to see them before I leave, lord Fairlight, if that would be agreeable?”

“Of course!” I motioned to Grimble who nodded.

“I’ll send a runner now, my lord”, he bowed before walking to the door and conversing with one of the guards.

Tarragon appeared suddenly from under the table, and snuggled in next to Luna, who squee’d in delight, “Fairlight I didn’t know you had a dragonling! She’s gorgeous!”

“She’s Etrida’s daughter, saved my hide more than once in those caverns. She’s like one of the family now and is getting bigger all the time.”

Luna nodded, “She has her mothers look about her; a truly exquisite dragon. Look at her scaling…”

I peered at her scales, but to me Tarragon looked, well, like a little dragon I suppose. She didn’t look ‘that’ much like her mother, but maybe in a thousand years or so she would. I scratched my chin thoughtfully,

“You know Etrida?”

The princess laughed, “Of course I do! I have been in Equestria before, lord Fairlight” Luna moved a stray hair from her face, “There were many more dragons back then. Etrida wasn’t the eldest but was in line to be. The war…the war took many lives, far too many.”

Luna took a mouthful of the brandy which Grimble trotted over to refill for her, “I don’t want to talk about the war, Fairlight. I’m here on other business.”

I sat up straight, my ears pricked as the princess continued, “The royal wedding is to be held at Canterlot soon, despite all the delays. Most of the royal guard have been place in and around the capital for protection of the happy couple. You may have noticed a distinct lack of soldiers looking for you?”

I nodded, “I thought they’d just given up, and we are quite sheltered here.”

She shrugged, “That is true. However my sister would not just give up on something once her mind is set. We have argued about you several times, but she remains unwavering in her resolve.”

Damn it all, I’d hoped the old bag would have let it go. I mean for fucks sake, what the hell was her problem?

“Lord Fairlight?”

Luna looked at me with a concerned expression. I released my grip on the magic and shook my mane, “Forgive me my lady. I had hoped Princess Celestia would have left me to live here with my family in peace.”

She shook her head sorrowfully, “Tia has a difficult manner about her at times and, I fear, the memory of the war still haunts her to this day.”

I had little sympathy, not after what I’d seen, or rather what Maroc had. Genocide playing on the royal conscience was it? Damned shame…

Luna glanced at Mitre, who leaned a foreleg on the arm of the chair, “Look lad, I know you’ve had a rough time and you’ve got a young family too, but we need you.”

“You need the wendigo ‘me’ you mean”

“Fairlight…look…” Mitre began but Luna chipped in, “He’s right Mitre, we’re asking a lot of him, he has foals to care for now. I told you I was not happy about this plan of yours.”

“Your majesty, we need him!”

Luna fixed him with a look, “We said we were concerned about this, Mitre. Lord Fairlight has done more than his fair share for Equestria and we will not push him into something that could endanger his life or his family!”

Mitre looked like he was going to explode, but instead looked at me with a pleading expression on his face.

I held up a hoof to try and diffuse the mounting tension, “My lady, Mitre, please. I don’t even know what’s going on here, so before we all jump to conclusions, can somepony please explain what is going on?”

Luna nodded to Mitre for him to continue. He cleared his throat, “We’ve picked up intel to suggest a plot to assassinate the princesses. I think I mentioned this to you some time ago?”

I nodded.

“There’s always some crazy out there, but this time we have something solid.” Mitre took out a file from his saddle bag and placed some photographs on the table before us.

“Recognise anypony?”

I did, “The commissioner, Velvet Cream, the ‘human’ and another one I don’t know”.

The photograph was grainy, but showed enough detail to identify the first three. The smirking, oily Velvet Cream and his stunning ‘Celestia-esque’ friend stood like old pals next to the watch commissioner. The fourth one looked like a very everyday sort of pony, one that wouldn’t stand out in a crowd that was for certain. His screwdriver cutie mark was one I’d seen on many a pony, usually in the repair or construction business.

Luna tapped the photo of the white unicorn, “Human? Are you sure?”

“I am.” I replied, “She came through the portal and along with her pals, turned half the watch into mincemeat. I’ve seen her since too, at the Strawberry Cream nightclub.”

Mitre’s chair creaked as he moved, “Guess where the photo was taken”

It wasn’t that much of a surprise. We knew Velvet was up to his fetlocks in it, his goons Gates and Melon Patch had been the ones who’d help turn me into…into ‘this’. What they did to Meadow and Sparrow…well, I hoped they were enjoying hell right now. I examined the photograph again. It was clearly taken without the knowledge of the four ponies in it. Mitre and the agency no doubt would have had the place well staked out.

“We had a pony on the inside who got these pictures to us”, he leafed through a few more similar ones.

“Had?” I asked.

“We found her head floating in the river two days ago”

I shook my head. Those bastards had some payback coming for what they’d done.

“Who’s the fourth one, any leads?”

“We have more than leads”, Mitres wry smile belied the seriousness of what he said next, “Know what one of these things are?”

I magicked up the photo from the table and examined it closely. At first I thought it to be some sort of pony, a bat pony? No…it was more ‘insectoid’. A bright shiny carapace, beetle like wings and a horn like a unicorn, but those teeth and eyes…I’d heard of them, but never actually seen one in person.

“Changeling?” I asked uncertainly.

Mitre nodded, “Got it in one boy. Nasty little fuckers”, he quickly bowed to Luna, “Sorry your majesty”. She smiled and waved for him to continue,

“Caught it going through one of the detectors that we’ve set up around the country looking for any rogue humans. Didn’t expect this though. When this one was approached, it blasted it way through the crowd until we took it down.”

“Alive?”

“Not for long. Little bastard killed two and maimed another. Turns out they’re not that resistant to blaster fire.”

“So what’s that got to do with the wedding though?” I asked, “How do we know this thing didn’t just wander into town looking for some tasty emotions to snack on. Its not that unknown.”

Mitre pulled out another file, “This one was taken by a pony moments before the damned thing killed him. Thank the goddesses the medics had the wherewithal to give us the camera.”

There were a number of snaps of the local town, statues, gardens, and finally, the one Mitre was drawing my attention to. In front of a large neon prancing pony sign, a very everyday looking pony with a screwdriver cutie mark.

“Think that’s the same guy? So what’s the angle here, Mitre, think the commissioners planning on infiltrating the wedding with a changeling and taking them out?”

“To a point, yes. The commissioner hangs around with some anti government higher ups, the ones who would like nothing more than to see the princesses made into a more…’ceremonial’ role. Should that happen, then there would be a need for somepony to take the reigns of government, and guess who they had in mind?”

“The commissioner?”

“She’d be a puppet of the elite of course, but a very well paid puppet nonetheless.”

Luna spoke up, “These ponies know we would never move against them openly and my sister would never relinquish her rule of Equestria, nor I for that matter. Not unless the people wished it of course…”

I smiled at her, “My lady, the ponies of Equestria love you, and Celestia”, I nearly choked on the last bit, “I’ve never heard anything said against you.”

She reached over and placed a hoof on my knee, “Thank you lord Fairlight, you’re very kind.”

I could feel my cheeks burning as Mitre cleared his throat loudly making me jump, “This creature, this changeling, has been traced back to the capital. We’ve checked hours of surveillance information from the detectors and it appears on one more right outside the palace.”

Hell fire, this wasn’t good. The damned things mimicked ponies perfectly. Well…almost. They could be picked up by magical detectors, but sooner or later, one of the damned things could get through.

“You think this thing was an assassin?”

Mitre shook his head, “No…we think it was there for observation, probing for weakness in the defences. The royal guard are already on alert because of the threat from the humans, and the CBI are also aware of the changeling situation. Captain Shining Armour has put up a shield around the whole city to protect against these things getting in, and we’ve been busy installing automated detectors around the country as fast as we can manufacture them.”

“Captain Shining Armour?”, I asked.

Luna spoke up, “The princess’ fiancé and captain of the royal guard. Twilight Sparkle’s brother”

My eyebrows shot up. Miss Sparkle’s brother? He was captain of the very guard who were trying to hunt me down? Oh what delicious irony.

“Where do I come into this?” I sighed inwardly. Here it comes…

Mitre smiled, taking a mouthful of his brandy, “We want you to investigate Velvet Cream, the Commissioner and our human friend. Simple.”

“Simple? I guess the watch are out of the picture with the commissioner’s influence, but why can’t the agency do it?”

“They are, but their hooves are tied by Celestia’s regulations”, Luna said, “But thankfully, and not in small part to your help, she has allowed Equus to remain under my control and in this we have carte blanche to take care of the situation. The safety of the newlyweds has taken care of my sisters ‘concerns’, shall we say.”

“Yeah”, I added, “I get it. She wants Equus to get their hooves dirty, so the royal wedding doesn’t get gate crashed by our bug friends”

Mitre grinned, “That’s about the size of it. Celestia doesn’t know about you though. You’re our…well, we want you to be, out trump card.”

“And do what?” I didn’t like the sound of this, “Take out the whole gang?”

Mitre said nothing and Luna returned to stare into the fire, “That’s it isn’t it? You want me to ‘investigate’ them, by killing the whole bloody lot. Nice and quiet, keep the guards noses clean, the agency; just poor old Fairlight, the evil wendigo doing what he does best. How long before one of Celestia’s goons comes after me then, track me down and kill me? Maybe my whole family too!”

The big blue stallion shook his head, “We’re not asking you to kill them Fairlight, just…neutralise the threat. If you can bring them in, do it, you’re still on the books with Equus.”

“’Neutralise’…Yeah, and if I bring them in what then? With the commissioners connections, Velvet and the human will be straight back out and probably go even further underground.”

The door crashed open, it was Brandy Wine, “There’s something coming up the road! Mitre, get the princess upstairs, Fairlight…” he threw me a PDW. The two of us rushed to the door as a protesting Luna was pushed up the stairs.

“What is it?” I said, checking the weapon, “We’ve got more armed warriors in this village than you can shake a stick at.”

“You haven’t seen it!” he said, his eyes wide, “It’s…it’s like something from a bloody nightmare, black and shining with dragon wings and…”

“And eyes like red fires, right?”

“…and…yes! You’ve seen it before?”

“I would say so, yes. Come in and put that blasted gun away will you.” I handed him the PDW and opened the doors, as Shadow and Tingles trotted in.

“Agh!” Brandy gasped, backing away into a corner upsetting a table on his way, “What is that!?”

“My mate, the lady Shadow. Shadow, may I present to you Brandy Wine of the Celestian Bureau of Investigation.”

Shadow bobbed her head and grinned, treating Brandy to her glinting battery of lethally sharp teeth. Smoke curled up from her nostrils and her eyes burned deep red in the darkened light of the taverns interior. The stallion squeaked in fright.

“Oh stop it, Shadow, you’ll give him a bloody heart attack.”

Tingles gave Mitre a hug, “It’s so good to see you! But who’s this you’ve brought wi…” she gasped, “Your majesty!”

Luna waved her off and trotted back into the room to pick Tingles up who was bowing so low she was virtually lying down, “Tingles’ please, we’re friends are we not?”

“Of course your…” Luna raised an eyebrow as Tingles caught herself, “...Of course Luna, I’m so happy to see you again!”

“And I you. So, this must be the lady Shadow who we spent so long trying to find, and her mate finds her in his own inimitable fashion.”

Shadow blushed and bobbed a curtsy to the princess, “Princess Luna?”

Luna shook her head, “No, just Luna. Friends don’t use titles, except Fairlight…”

Tingles gave me a look from under her brows, I was going to get interrogated later, I just knew it. Fortunately, our ‘fling’ had been before I’d become serious with Tingles, so at least I didn’t have that to worry about. I hoped.

There was that horrible moment when I realised we’d have to relay our stories again and sure enough…

We finally got to the part where Luna, Mitre and Brandy explained why they were there. Luna was more interested in Lumin however, but I could tell by the way her ears swivelled, that she was still taking in every detail.

Tingles didn’t explode as I thought she would. Placing a hoof on her leg, I looked into her thoughtful eyes, “Love?”

She looked at Shadow who nodded as if the two had some sort of psychic connection. The tangerine Pegasus bowed to Luna but addressed me, “Celestia would have to acknowledge Fairlight if he managed to ‘assist’ in protecting the wedding, wouldn’t she?”

Luna looked up from Lumin to reply, “I believe she would, I also have one more trump card to play should that be the case. Even Tia wouldn’t be able to ignore lord Fairlight’s contribution in those circumstances. Nor, I would add, could Shining Armour and his fiancé.”

Shadow murmured something to Tingles and the two looked to me expectantly. I shrugged, “Fine…I’ll do what I can, but when this is over, I want something out of this. Not for me, but for my family and the people of this village.”

Luna straightened up, “Very well, what do you desire?”

I stood up from my chair and spoke rather more formally than I intended, “The lands of the tribe of the four winds are to be reinstated. Shining Borders and the fortress are to be considered our land and home. None of my people, my family, nor myself are to be molested nor harmed in any way and recognised for who they are. We, for our part, will pledge to protect Equestria from harm and serve the princesses.”

Grimble dropped the tray behind me, “The princesses!?” he shrieked, “After what Celestia did?”

“Yes” I turned to him and fixed him with my blue eyed stare, “Times have changed my friend. Luna and Celestia rule this land and we have a chance to recover our lost heritage. To move forward, we must let go of the baggage of the past.”

I turned back to Luna, “But that doesn’t mean I will forget nor fail to learn from what has been. You are still the one I serve my lady. Celestia will have to come as part of the deal” I was going to add ‘unfortunately’, but thought better of it.

Luna’s mouth hung open, “You…you want a part of Equestria? She would never agree to that!”

“The land was stolen from us in the first place, and it is ours by right and by inheritance. If you want my help, my tribe’s help, this is the price I ask.”

Every pair of eyes in the room was on me. Luna stood up, her long flowing mane and tail flowing out behind her caught in the astral wind, “Very well. You must understand though, my lord Fairlight, that I can only agree for my part. Celestia may not be so…agreeable.”

“I’ll take that chance”

Mitre watched me quietly while the princess got up to pass Lumin back to his mother,

“Captain…” he asked quietly, “what will you do if the princess refuses?”

I looked at my old friend, at his tired face and scarred body. We’d both been through so much together, but now…now I had so much more to fight for.

“How’s Shelly Chief?” I asked him suddenly.

He stared at me, those old dark eyes trying to read the inside of my head, “She’s doing fine…why?”

“You love her don’t you?”

“Of course I do. What’s this got to do with…”

“What would you do to protect her, Chief? To make sure she was safe?” I interrupted.

“I…”

“That’s what I’d do.”

My old watch chief sat with his mouth open, before nodding to himself, “I understand Captain, but…”, he leaned forward and jabbed a hoof at me, “don’t forget who your friends are.”

I clopped him on the shoulder, “I never have my friend”. I turned to face princess Luna and bowed before her, “You have my loyalty and my word of honour I will do all I can to protect Equestria my lady.”

Luna smiled shyly and gave Lumin a kiss before holding her hoof out for me to kiss respectfully,

“You’re an interesting one, lord Fairlight, and so is your family. There is a magic here, not only in you, but in all of you; Tingles, Shadow and even little Lumin”

She gazed down at the sleeping unicorn foal and murmured just on the edge of my hearing, “He has the greatest magic of all”.

Our guests prepared to leave, Luna being helped into the carriage by Mitre while Brandy stopped me by the door,

“We’ll be in touch soon, Fairlight. Also, I have a bit of a confession to make.”

“Oh?”

“When I was checking your old room and Tingles’, I found a stash of boxes.”

“My chocolates!”

“I…I couldn’t help myself, I tried one. I didn’t think you’d mind, but…”

“But?”

“Great Celestia, Fairlight, they were amazing! I had another, and before I knew it…”

I facehoofed, “Don’t tell me you ate the lot?!”

“Well, actually…I did. But don’t worry, I replaced them. They’re in with all Tingles’ things. We put them in your room earlier”.

Laughing, I clopped him on the shoulder, “You didn’t need to confess that! I wasn’t that obsessed with them!”

Brandy shrugged and handed me a crumpled yellow envelope, “It’s from the Cake’s. The guys at the agency have a regular shipment now and…well, it’s a money off voucher as a thank you.”

I pocketed the letter, shaking my head, “Thanks Brandy, you were always there when I needed you.”

“I still am Fairlight. We’ll be working together on protecting our home from the rats trying to infest it. I know you’ve done more than your fair share for our country, but still, I’ve always liked a pony who gets results.”

He fished in his pocket for something, “Oh…nearly forgot. Here’s yours and Tingles pay.”

“Mitre’s already given us money, Brandy. We’re not on the payroll anymore.”

“Actually, that’s not entirely true. I always hoped you’d come back and so…” he handed over a wad of notes and coins, “That’s both of you up to date. It’ll keep you in chocolates if nothing else!”

We shook hooves and after a round of hugs and hoof waving, the carriage took off into the azure sky, banking back towards Manehattan. Grimble and I sat back by the fire a while longer and chatted about the visit. He was a traditionalist at heart but open enough to understood that if we were to restore the tribe, we would have to adapt to this world, to survive in Celestia’s Equestria. I sat gazing into the flames and tapped my forehooves together. Had I pushed things too far? Despite my words to Mitre, what would I do if Celestia refused my request? Damn it, there were too many unknowns here, and now I was second guessing my decisions.

I shook my mane. It was too bloody late now anyway, the die was cast. I would play my part and the lord of the four winds together with his tribe would return to their rightful place in Equestria.

Grimble echoed my thoughts, “I never thought it would happen in my lifetime, my lord. I hope you’ll forgive my outburst earlier?”

“About Celestia? Of course my friend, trust me, I’m no fan of the princess of the sun. However, if we have to make a deal with the devil to achieve our goal, then so be it.”

“Fortune favours the bold, my lord”

I clinked my brandy mug against Grimbles’ “Hah! It does that, my friend, it does that.”

There was a shriek from upstairs and the clatter of hooves, a flustered Tingles bursting into the room, “HEATHER!” she screamed.

The minotaur charged in, carrying a meat cleaver of all things, her eyes scanning the room for trouble.

“Get some water, quick!”

“What’s going on?” I called to her, jumping to my hooves, “It’s not Tarragon again is it?”

“No! It’s Shadow! I think she’s been poisoned!”

“Oh goddesses” my heart thundering I raced for the stairs, Grimble rushing into the kitchen to help Heather.

Tingles turned to me in a panic, “She…she ate something. I found her next to a box of something in the bedroom, next to our things and…”

“Oh hell! MY BLOODY CHOCOLATES!”