The warriors of the tribe filed back through the portal, tired yet relieved. Tonight would be an evening of joyful celebration at our victory, and rightly so. Each and every one of these brave souls fully deserved my admiration and respect. They had, after all, risked their lives to rescue my son.

The princess watched the last few of them passing through, “Time for us to leave, I fear. Tia only lowered the barrier temporarily, after all, she still has her inner demons to face.”

I looked up at the green sky, “As do we all, my lady”

Luna nudged me with her nose, “Some day, I’d like to bring the tribes home, but not yet. Equestria is not yet ready and in some ways, they are not ready for Equestria.” She held a hoof out to me to kiss, “You, lord Fairlight, are the start of a new page, a new story in the history of our land…perhaps one day, your foal, like his name, will bring light where once there was only darkness.” She looked up at the sky smiling softly, “Even if that darkness cannot be seen.”

Shadow hugged Luna farewell and we watched the princess return to the assembled thestral warriors to watch our friends take flight once more. Etrida called back over her shoulder as she lumbered into the air after them, “I shall be calling upon you soon, lord Fairlight, remember your promise.”

“I shall!” I called after the huge creature. With a flash of blue and green magic, they disappeared, back to their homelands. Now, it was time for us to return to ours.

Shadow and I didn’t wait to see the portal destroyed, instead we simply clambered into the army wagons and sat back, letting some other poor bugger do the work for once. Brandy had been overjoyed to see us, the Colonel on the other hoof somewhat begrudgingly muttered her ‘appreciation of our efforts’. How bloody magnanimous of her, it must be something that comes with rank. I sighed and sank back into the seat. As hard as the army issue thing was, to me right then it felt decadently luxurious. With a long sigh, Shadow leaned across me and snuggled her head onto my chest. I stroked her mane,

“Thanks love. I don’t know what else to say, words just can’t explain how my heart soared when I saw you appear like magic in the sky. I’m so sorry you went through so much, but I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t arrived when you did. Our whole tribe owes you a debt we could never repay.”

She looked up at me with one half open eye, “Mmhmm”.

And with that simple expression of her thoughts on the subject, she closed her eyes and fell asleep for the remainder of the journey back to Smiling Borders.

Evening was approaching quickly as we skimmed low over the forest, the lights of the village twinkling in the distance a truly welcome sight to my tired eyes. The sky carriage banked into a low sweeping arc, and we landed with barely a jolt just outside the Wyverns Tail. Shadow was exhausted yet visibly excited. Stumbling slightly in her attempt to rush out of the carriage, I managed to catch her and help her regain her hoofing. Before I could say anything, she reached back inside, scooped up Lumin in his pannier and charged through the front door of the inn.

I’d barely made the door when a familiar shout of joy and chorus of cheers rang out, making me shake my head with a smile. Sure enough, a tangerine Pegasus stood before us, alternately hugging Shadow and Lumin until her gaze fell on me. Tingles passed Lumin to Shadow and walked deliberately over to me, standing tall and fixing me with a large green eye,

“You’re late…”

What was it with ponies saying that to me lately?

“I…” I never got a chance to finish as the mare grabbed my barding and pulled me into a kiss. The common room erupted in cheers and shout from the warriors and villagers who filled the place with life and an energy I didn’t think possible. Tingles broke the kiss and leaned her forehead on mine,

“I thought we’d lost you…when you disappeared, the changelings, and then I had this dream…you came to me…in the forest…”

“You don’t remember?”

“Not really, everythings fuzzy…” she grinned, “Like your ears”

She lunged up and nipped one of my long suffering ears right on the tip…hard.

I yelped in pain, “Ow! Bloody hell fire Tingles!”

Laughing, she pranced away swishing her tail provocatively, “What are you going to do about it then, mister Salt?”

“Ooh, you!”

Howls of laughter and encouragement from the tribe followed me up the stairs as I raced after the fleeing mare.

Tingles slammed the door shut behind me as I charged in, locking it behind her. Those green eyes blazed with a passion I’d seen last in the shower cubicle at the agency. The tangerine mare was panting heavily and advancing on me like some starving predator; why did I have a sudden image of a manticore?

A hoof on the end of a long slender leg slammed into the wall beside me, her eyes locked on mine, her pupils wide.

“Tingles…” I gasped, “I’ve just got back, I haven’t washed or…”

“You stink.” She growled, “You reek, you’re dirty and you’re covered in the blood of those you’ve slain.” She pushed me up onto my hind legs and ran her chest up against mine,

“What are you, Fairlight…who and what are you?”

“Me? I…” I licked my lips nervously, “I’m a wendigo, the lord of the tribe of the four winds”.

“A warrior”, she rumbled.

“Yes…a warrior.”

She bit my shoulder, hooking a foreleg around my neck, her tail swishing around and tickling my flank,

“You have your victory, my lord. Time to take your spoils…”

Tingles kicked my hind legs out from under me and somehow twisted, flinging me onto the bed and simultaneously landing atop me with a flurry of wings. I gasped as she licked my muzzle and took my head in her hooves, “What do you want, lord Fairlight?”

“I want…”

“I mean, right now…here, now, what do you want?”

“I want you”

“Say it again…”

“I want you, Tingles”

She sighed, then smiled down at me, lowering herself with a gasp, “Oh, Celestia!”

The Pegasus mare shoved herself onto me as hard and as far as she could, taking all of me within her and squeezed her eyes tight shut before collapsing on my chest, smiling. Brushing her sticky mane from her eyes, Tingles raised an eyebrow, “You’re going to get it now, this is for sneaking out for a smoke!”

She raised herself up and then rammed herself down, making me gasp at the rush of heat,

“This…this is for getting kidnapped!”

Again, the Pegasus pulled herself up and slammed down, whimpering slightly, “And this…this is for making me love you so much!”

She ground herself into me viciously, biting me neck, my ears and scrabbling at me with her hooves while she bucked down onto me as hard and as fast as she could. Tingles cried out and screamed her passion into the room with complete abandon, her wings flaring out, stiff as boards, quivering with her mounting excitement.

“Oh goddesses!” she shrieked, leaning over and steadying herself on one of the beds supports as she climaxed. Tingles shook and gasped for breath, collapsing on my chest before rolling off onto the bed. I wasn’t finished and leaned over to catch her, but she stopped me with a hoof,

“No…tonight, you have other duties, my lord.”

My libido temporarily derailed, I looked at her quizzically, I didn’t understand. Tingles chuckled and walked, if a little wobbly, to the bedroom door clicking it open, “Meet me in the bath when you’re finished, and leave Lumin with Heather would you?”

“ Tingles…?”

She trotted out, clopping hooves with a heavily armoured mare who entered the room, deftly kicking the door shut behind her. It really did look like I was in for it tonight!

Shadow began unbuckling her armour in silence as if I wasn’t even there. She worked with a swiftness born of experience, each heavy piece falling noisily to the floor, her sword and axe propped in the corner. She walked up to the window and slid it open, sitting back on her haunches and closing her eyes, breathing in the evening air,

“Fairlight?”

“Yes, love?”

She stared out the window, “I want a foal”

I knew she did, that was why she wanted to go to the chamber in the fortress wasn’t it?

“I know”, I said quietly, “We’ll go to the fortress as soon as we’ve rested up a little, if that’s what you want to do.”

“It is”, she whispered turning to me, “But tonight…I want you…”

Did she sound more, I don’t know, eloquent? Normally she clipped her sentences, I don’t know why, the enigmatic creature had always been a mystery to me. She was like the Wither world, like the Everfree…wild, untamed and deliciously exotic. I rolled off the bed and sat beside her,

“We’ll have a foal, my love”, I murmured looking deep into her glowing red eyes, “But tonight, tonight is for you”. I allowed the magic to thrum through my body and re-energise me. White fog began to swirl around my haunches and drip from between my teeth. Shadow gasped as I nibbled her horn like ears, a shiver running down her spine, that gorgeous tail of purest black, flicking up to tease my spine with its electric touch. I returned the favour, making her whinny slightly, as she turned to face me and looked me in the eyes,

“Fairlight, don’t I frighten you?”

“You terrify me.”

She cocked her head on one side, “I do?”

I nodded, running my diamond like hoof down her chest, “Yes…It terrifies me just how much I love you, my Shadow”.

She sniffed, a tiny red tinged burning tear rolling down her cheek, “Oh, Fairlight…you frighten me too” Shadow kissed me gently on the nose, “For the same reason”. We kissed.

Shadow and I rolled on the floor, bathing in the sparkling fog, the white clouds making the room look like some otherworldly place where time and the outside world meant nothing. Here, the light from our eyes reflected back at us blue and red in the whiteness. She growled, biting my neck, almost, but not quite piercing the skin and making me gasp in pleasure. I ran my tongue up her neck, tasting her ear, taking it in my mouth and running my teeth along it to the tip. Shadow bit deeper, pulling me to her, the fires in her eyes at an intensity that was both frightening and insanely desirable at the same time.

She stood, turning away and rested her fore hooves on the window sill, her gaze inviting, her tail gliding slowly up her marehood, waiting for me to take her as she wanted. I knelt down, reaching up with my muzzle and tasted her. Shadow gasped and pushed back at me, giving a wordless moan of pleasure, urging me to carry on. I did so willingly. Gently, yet firmly, I tasted and caressed my mate, taking note of what she enjoyed most and letting her guide me as much I took her there. Never letting up my delicious work, Shadow surged up to the peak in short pants and gasps before she finally cried out, her legs shaking and collapsed to the floor. I caught her in my fore legs and held her close.

Shadows breathing began to return to normal and she stood up, guiding me to the bed where she lay on her back, legs outstretched, pulling me onto her with a sigh of contentment. I mounted the midnight coated thestral, her smell filling me with its hot and spicy fragrance. I loved her, as much then as I ever had, she had saved my life and my foal...this mysterious mare, this warrior, I would protect, care and serve her as long as I drew breath. I murmured into her ear, as we made love,

“Shadow…”

Cleaning off alongside the bathing area was both relaxing and re-energising. I had no idea just how dirty I was until I watched the water sluice away after a good soaping down. When I had been thoroughly cleaned off by my enthusiastic mares, Tingles and I started on Shadow. Her coat, for all its leathery appearance was the same as a regular pony’s, soft and shiny, even if it did accentuate her rather ‘bony’ appearance which characterised the thestral race. Tingles and I were so used to this enigmatic race now that it was hard to imagine anypony being alarmed by them. The reaction of the soldiers by the portal when we’d emerged, had unfortunately been all the reminder I’d needed of the way Equestrian’s were likely to treat her.

There had been a story around Ponyville some time ago, of a zebra mare who’d arrived one morning at market after moving into a hut in the Everfree. She’d been met with outright terror and with locked doors, stalls and hearts. The story goes that the elements of harmony worked their magic and brought the citizens of the town around to seeing her as just another living creature like themselves.

I ran the long toothed brush through Tingles’ tail and worked out the knots; would anypony accept a thestral? To me she was beautiful, but I wasn’t so stupid as to believe others would see her the same way. After all, Equestrian’s were generally a flighty bunch and more prone to flight than fight in a confrontation. It was sadly that very nature that allowed scum like Velvet Cream to prosper.

Tingles swapped with Shadow and we began to work on her coat and mane. Tingles’ pegasus wings stood out from Shadows’, or was that the other way around? They were feathered rather than the skin like membrane which all thestrals had. My own were more like a thestrals, powerful certainly, but nowhere near as agile or manoeuvrable as a pegasi’s. Tingles washed her own wings, careful to adjust each feather and apply the right conditioner. They virtually shone when she was finished, and she was careful to keep them out of the hot water when she slid, hind legs first, into the hot spring.

Shadow dived in muzzle first, rearing up and splashing us both before falling back and creating a wave that had Tingles sputtering in outrage. Shadow just laughed at Tingles’ protests and swam off into the steamy waters, emerging behind me like a water serpent to envelop me in her forelegs. Tingles shook her head at the sight and waved us over to sit by her after Shadow had expended all her energy splashing me. The orange pegasus kissed me on the cheek,

“You haven’t seen Meadow for a while, love. We’ll have to pop over and see her later.”

I leaned back, stretching my forelegs, “How’s she been?”

“Scared for you. I couldn’t keep your disappearance from her, and I wouldn’t anyway. It’s not good to hide things, you only store up trouble for later.” She sighed, “I know all about that.”

Tingles yawned, “What happened anyway? I never found out properly.”

“What do you know?”

“Only what Brandy and Mitre told me; that you’d been kidnapped and had your memories altered and couldn’t account for the period between sitting on the porch and appearing somewhere in, where was it…Canterlot?”

“Ah…”

She raised an eyebrow, “What’s ‘Ah’?”

I explained the whole story, or at least what I could recall which wasn’t much. Tingles’ eyes went wide, “You mean Annabelle was somehow involved in your abduction, your ‘reprogramming’?”

“I don’t know, maybe. She’s definitely the human who’s been working with the commissioner and Velvet Cream. She was even involved with the changelings; I’d go so far as to say she could be one of the most dangerous ponies I’ve ever met.”

“I don’t believe it! Annabelle…a human? She can’t be! She’s…well, she’s…”

“She’s what? A blank flank?”

Shadow tapped me on the nose, “That’s rude!”

“Sorry, but she doesn’t have a cutie mark, surely you noticed?”

Tingles shook her head, “I just thought it was some sort of birth defect, like being albino or something, I didn’t want to offend her by enquiring about it.”

“So what’s the big issue then? She was wanting to tell me something before we went to face down the changelings.”

“You didn’t let her tell you?” Tingles said incredulously.

“No!” everytime I look at her, or even just think about her, my mind does bloody somersaults for some reason. She’s got something to do with what happened to me and I don’t want anything to do with her. Let the bloody agency deal with her, I’ve done my bit.”

“Well you can ask her when we get back.”

My eyes went wide, “She’s still there?!”

“Why not?”

“Haven’t you been listening? She’s a criminal! That mare’s not only non-equestrian, she’s been involved in guns, drugs and slavery that’s ruined the lives of who knows how many ponies! Good goddesses Tingles, has she been messing with your head too?”

The tangerine Pegasus fixed me with ‘that’ look, “I speak as I find and that mare tried to save Lumin from them when she found out what they were going to do to him. They turned on her and…well, you know don’t you, you found us.”

My jaw hung open, “I don’t believe this! I…Ah! Sod it…”

Tingles reached across me to Shadow, “Shadow, are you alright?”

The thestral mare had her head down, her eyes duller than usual. She murmured something under her breath, it sounded like…”Non-equestrian”. Oh goddesses.

“Shadow, I didn’t mean you, love,” I said gently, “I meant that mare’s a human”.

She looked up at me, sadness and confusion in her face, “I’m a non-equestrian!”

Tingles pushed past me and held her hoof, “You’re right, you’re not an equestrian, but what does that mean? Your life has as much value as anypony. We’re all different in this tribe Shadow…look at us” she stepped back and spread her wings, “I’m a pegasus, and this…”, she tapped me on the forehead, “is a wendigo. Don’t you think ponies would be more frightened of him? He’s scared Meadow and I shitless!”

“Tingles!” I shouted, “You tell me off for swearing!”

“Oh belt up, you’re the worst offender here!”

Shadow wiped her eyes and smiled, “I’m sorry, its all…so new for me”

I’d worried about this, about her decision to leave her home and family behind for a world she knew nothing about except from dreams. She’d given up everything she knew to be with a pony she barely knew, a foolish and impetuous stallion who didn’t know how lucky he was to have met such a magnificent creature.

“Shadow…”

She climbed out of the bath and began to towel off, Tingles and I following. Shadow had a far away look on her face, one that left me lost for words. Slowly, she turned and walked towards me, her hooves clopping quietly on the hard ground. Her eyes looked deep into mine and I could feel myself falling into them, my heart calling out to her,

“When I first met you,” I said softly, “I was unsure of who and what you were. I was frightened of you in a way, yet you showed me to look beyond my pony instincts and to see the world around me for what it really is. You helped me to open my eyes to the wonders of life, friendship and love, to see you for who you really are.”

I lifted her hoof in mine, holding it against my cheek, “You accepted me for who I am without question, without fear. You gave me your love and showed me the way when I was lost and afraid. Shadow, I love you more than I could ever express in words. You, Meadow, Tingles, Lumin and Sparrow are the anchors for me in this turbulent world and together, all of us, we will show this world the tribe of the four winds is one of strength, not only of the body, but of the heart.”

Shadow kissed me on the lips, gently, then walked over to Tingles for a hug. The tangerine mare smiled at her, “He’s not usually that eloquent you know, better in the muscle department than grey matter.”

“Hey!”

The mares giggled together, watching me gather my old coat and hat I’d brought with me.

“Going somewhere?” Tingles said looking up at me.

“There’s somepony I haven’t seen for a while. You have to share me sometimes you know.”

Shadow stuck her tongue out at me playfully then started to tickle Tingles, the two quickly ended up rolling on the ground, laughing. So much for having a bath! Tingles, finally broke free and wiped the tears of laughter from her face, “You go, love, Shadow and I will be okay.” My thestral mate nodded then resumed her tickling assault on the ribs of the tangerine mare. Shaking my head, I disappeared into the night, my pony hooves clopping along in the quiet landscape of Smiling Borders.

The breeze tonight was cool, tugging playfully at my mane and tail, my coat flapping against my sides. Closing my eyes for a time as I walked, I could imagine myself back on duty in the watch. It felt like a lifetime ago now. Had that really been me? The young grey stallion with the magnifying glass cutie mark and brown eyes; I never quite cut a fine figure in society. My black and white mane and tail certainly made me look, as foals liked to joke at school, like a ‘cart horse’. Meadow had seen beyond that, to the ‘me’ that lay beneath. Ha! But what she found when she looked certainly escaped me!

I chuckled to myself. She was an amazing mare and I missed her guidance, her touch, the look in those big lantern yellow eyes which melted my heart. Even with the love of Tingles and Shadow, I still loved my Meadow, the first mare who had captured my heart. She had borne my daughter, Sparrow Song, that tiny life taken away from the world of the living before she’d even entered it. She was such a delicate and beautiful little thing, I…

I stopped, brushing the tears from my eyes. Goddesses, I was always going to be a fucked up mess wasn’t I? The great Fairlight, Lord of the Four Winds, former Captain of the Equestrian Watch…a messed up emotional wreck of a pony. I shook my mane and tried to think of other things. I had to remember to avoid being on my own like this in future; my bloody brain hated me.

The feel of branches and leaves catching on my coat made me snap my eyes open to the bright silvery light of the glade, the berry bushes around me heavy with their lush, red fruits. I leant down and sampled a couple of the sharply sweet treats. The taste of Grimble’s brandy was a fond memory in my mind, quickly reinvigorated by the flavour of the berries. I wished I’d brought a bottle of it with me, and my pipe too. Sighing I sat just inside the edge of the clearing and felt the magic around me, the way it tingled my horn and sent a gentle feeling of warmth along my spine. That was new…it felt wonderful…

“Meadow!” I squeaked, looking round at a big pair of yellow eyes, “I wish you wouldn’t keep sneaking up on me like that, you could give me a heart attack!”

“Well now”, she said in a sultry voice, “That means I’d have you all to myself at last. Poor Tingles and Shadow would just have to wait, the way I have to.” She tutted and shook her mane.

I heard some humour in her words, but also a note of sorrow, a longing and emptiness that made my heart cry out to her.

“Oh Meadow”, I whispered, “I’m so sorry, I’m so, so sorry.”

Moving into me, the green mare held me, “It’s alright my fine stallion, I shouldn’t have said anything. It was wrong of me to say that, it’s just, sometimes…”

She trailed off and I nuzzled her neck, taking in her scent; floral, wonderfully feminine.

“I miss you, love.” I murmured into her fur, “You must be sick of me saying it by now, but my heart yearns to be with you so much, I just want to be with you, for all of us to be together.”

Meadow sighed, rubbing her head along my neck, “I know. Life stinks, death too sometimes, all that sunshine and blue sky…simply terrible.”

She sniggered and lifted my chin with her hoof so we were face to face, “Oh, Fairlight, come on now…no tears, you big filly.” Meadow wiped the tears from my eyes, her own voice quavering, “I don’t want to see…to see Sparrow’s dad…her dad…oh!”

Tears flowed down her face and she collapsed into me, shaking as the sobbing wracked her body, “It’s not fair! Damn it, why did it have to be like this! I want to be with you, you’re my bloody husband and I want to be with you!”

I held her tightly, shaking with the emotion raging through my heart and soul. I never wanted to let her go but I knew that all too soon, with the dawn, she would have to go…back to the herd once more.

She moved away from me, her eyes wet with tears, “I share you with two mares, Fairlight, because you need looking after when I’m not there, but damn it all, you’re still mine!” she beat on my chest with her hooves, “You’re still mine!”

I kissed her on her soft nose, taking her forehoof in mine and planting a kiss on it too, “I always shall be yours, my love, forever in my heart for as long as I breathe and stars burn in the heavens, I shall be your stallion.”

Meadow shoved me and I lost balance, toppling over onto the grass with the beautiful green mare standing over me, her cheeks wet from crying, “Damn you Fairlight! Damn you!” she collapsed on top of me hugging me tightly, “Damn you…why do I love you so much…why do you love me…I want to go home with you, be a family, the way we were meant to be.”

Why was she torturing herself like this? Meadow was usually so calm, so level headed and sensible, this emotional outflowing wasn’t like her at all and my heart was in torment with my inability to ease her pain. Damn this world, I wanted to be with her too, but what could I do? Not all the magic in the world could bring back the dead.

I kissed her cheek, tasting the saltiness of her tears on my lips, “Is something wrong love, is there anything I can do…something…anything at all? I haven’t seen you like this before.”

Meadow shook her head, “Is something wrong? Of course something’s wrong! You disappear, nopony knows where you are, Lumin and Tingles get kidnapped and you nearly die in a fight. Goddess almighty, how the hell would you feel if that was me?!”

I sighed, “I didn’t want all that to happen, love, it just did. I just wanted to be left alone, to live my life with you and Sparrow. Fate has been a bitch to me ever since.”

She bopped me on the nose, “Fate....that has a lot to answer for.”

Raising an eyebrow I opened my mouth to speak but she stopped me with a hoof, “Starbeard told me some time ago. He said you’re a, I don’t know, a ‘lightening rod’ for destiny or something. It curves around you, sometimes being drawn to you, changing what was meant to be and what is. It all sounds odd and a bit frightening to me.”

“It does to me too! I didn’t know about all this, what does it mean?”

“It means events like the things that have happened to you so far, will keep occurring.” She motioned with her hooves, “Destiny, Fate, call it what you will, will seek you out. I’m sorry love, I’m not the best at explaining these things, and I actually bothered to listen in school too.”

I couldn’t understand this. What…I was some sort of natural attraction for crappy events? What sort of a bloody life was that?! Despair threatened to engulf me.

“I don’t want this!” I exclaimed, “He can’t be right, that uptight old goats got to be wrong about this ! For Luna’s sake, Meadow, what you’re saying is that I’m going to keep on attracting all the crap that’s out there for the rest of my life? That means it’ll risk harm to anypony around me and all of my family too.”

I sank to my haunches, “I…I’ll have to disappear, to go away…I can’t risk any more lives…not again…”

“Twilight Sparkle”

My head shot up, “Wha…Twilight Sparkle? What about her?”

“She’s one too”

“She’s one of the ‘elements of harmony’, I’m not”

“No, love, you’re not, but she attracts destiny the same way you do. All of the element holders do.”

“So why does destiny want to bother me? What the bloody hell has it got to do with me?”

She held my head in her hooves, “I don’t know, but you’re a special stallion and one that’s loved by so many it makes me a little…jealous.” Meadow kissed me, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, I’ve upset you.”

“No”, I said quietly, “You were right to tell me. I guess deep down I knew, or at least suspected, that something like this was going on. All the horrible things, even the good things, everything seemed so…’big’, somehow. You know, ‘larger than life’.”

She smiled, “Starbeard said that you have the power inside you to bend destiny. You can be the master of your own fate, Fairlight. I know you have it within you to do that, and you’ve not done too badly so far.”

I scrubbed my mane, “With the help of my friends, maybe I have.”

“And there you go. How many friends did you have when I first met you?”

“Not many, virtually none really”

“See?”

“Not really, no”

Meadow sighed, face hoofing, “And this is another reason why I want to be with you, you’re bloody hopeless!”

Shrugging, my breath was suddenly squeezed out of me by a strong hug from the green mare, “Now shush this worrying and hold me. My minds in a state and my emotions are running wild right now, I need to feel my husband beside me; I want to feel safe…with the stallion I love.”

Together we lay there on the grass, wrapped in each other embrace, Meadows head laid across my neck. We stayed like that, warm and happy until the suns early rays began to leak into the dawn sky. Meadow stirred, rose and leaned down to kiss me on the lips,

“I love you, my brave stallion. I’ll be here for you…always”

I returned the kiss, knowing that any moment she would have to return to the herd, “I love you too, my beautiful mare. Don’t worry, we’ll be together before you know it, wendigo’s aren’t immortal.”

A sudden thought hit me, “Are they?!”

She laughed, “No, silly! And you know how I know that?”

“No?”

“You’ll find out one day, love. Good grief, you really are hopeless!” she grabbed me and gave me a deep kiss before backing away into the bright magical light that began to encompass her, “Take care, and try to stop getting captured by strange ponies?”

In the blink of an eye she’d gone, as if she’d never existed. I looked at the ground and there, sure enough, were her hoofprints, the imprint of where her body had lain next to mine. I bent down and sniffed at where she’d been, if I concentrated, I could still detect her scent. Despite everything, I felt suddenly alive and energised, my worries, sadness and dismay popping like a bubble in the bath. Ah, to hell with it! We’d be together again, all of us one day, but right now I had some living to do and as for fate…bollocks to that too!

Trotting back to the village, the sun was peaking over the forest and the village was still very much in shadow. Birds, strange long tailed black things rose from the tree tops squawking, whilst around me, songbirds sang a merry refrain of the new dawn. I felt exceptionally alive today, happy and positive. I’d grab breakfast and go and have a chat with our visitor before she was whisked away by the agency mob. Maybe they’d send her back to the human realm? Personally, I wanted answers to what she’d done to my head, there was a big gap there and I wanted to know what was missing.

What the hell was that? Something kept niggling on the edge of my hearing, it was coming from my pocket…

Fishing about inside, I took out my old watch communications device. Heavier and more bulky than the agency ones, I hadn’t used it since that business in the alleyway with those young thugs and Bingo. It was so long ago now that…bloody hell, it was buzzing, it wasn’t my imagination after all!

I tapped the receive gem on the side, “Hello?”

The signal was terrible, “….F…F…light…ou….eive…”

Turning on the spot, I tried to get a better signal, “Your signal’s breaking up, say again”

“Fairli…et….ly…out…ow!”

Damn it! What the hell, it sounded like Mitre, “Chief, is that you? I can’t hear you!”

“Fairlight! Get…amily…out…om…repea…bomb…”

Shoving the commicator in my pocket I ran as hard as I could. The wind whipped past me, magic flowing through my veins, every fibre, every ounce of strength I could muster, I couldn’t think now. I had to…

The ground shook. A flash like a second sun blinded me moments before the shockwave hit and threw me violently to the ground. A deafening roar and a boom of thunder in the green magical after glare accompanied the shower of wood and tile fragments that rained down around me. I stood in shock, ignoring the debris clipping my coat as they fell; it wasn’t really happening of course, all of this was in my imagination, of course it was. I’d run too fast; if I were to back up a little, I’d be back on the worn road surface happily looking forward to a nice breakfast, not staring at the ruins of…of…

Villagers and warriors started to pour out of their cottages, standing and staring in horror at what I still couldn’t fathom. Blood from multiple cuts and splintered wood covered my face, chest and neck, but right then I felt nothing…I was numb, how could I be anything else? Feeling and emotion would mean I had to accept what I was looking at…the tavern…the Wyverns Tail…it was gone, simply…gone.

Burning pieces here and there evidenced that a building had been there, but where was it? I’d taken a wrong turning on the way back from the glade! What a fucking idiot I am! I started laughing, what a stupid, stupid idiot!

“My lord! Dear goddess, you’re alive! You’re…oh no…”

I half turned to the large minotaur, his face blackened with burns and superficial cuts, probably arsing about with his bloody forge again,

“Hello Vent! I seem to have taken a wrong turning here…I…”

“MEDIC! Get a medic here!”

The world began to spin and I fell, collapsing on the ground in a pile of legs. Some of me felt a bit odd, definitely something wrong here and there…I wonder what it was? I smiled, I’d be home soon and be able to see Lumin. I hadn’t played with him since I got back, but he’d been too sleepy, just like his old dad…I was so, so tired…