Nathan stood on the roof of the Evermoon Hotel, his coat flapping in the wind. He had his arms crossed as he stared up at the moon, thinking about his past and what he was going to do about the new threat. Sonata was fast asleep by the time he had got there, he was fine with that. Although he did wish that something would happen in the time he spent in this world, like he said, he wanted a child.

He stared down at the city bellow him, watching the street lights flicker on. Soon the city was lit up like a beautiful light show. He closed his eyes and began to remember the day he left the squad.

(music)

Around 1500 years ago

Discord was wreaking havoc across Equestria, buildings were floating and some were upside down, the fields of grass were turned into multicoloured checker boards, ponies were being changed and corrupted and so much more was happening to the once peaceful land.

Phoenix Squad watched this from a cliff overlooking the town that the spirit of chaos was currently in, Nathan being his minimum size as to avoid detection. The rest of the Rangers still had not learned of his growth abilities. He looked worriedly out at the town, he looked over to the Everfree Forest and spotted the young Celestia and Luna walking into the cave of the Tree of Harmony. Looking back he saw his team getting ready to fight.

They were about to charge down the cliff when he stepped in front of them. "Nathan, get out of the way, we have to finish Discord before he causes actual harm to the residents!" Yelled Thane. Nathan shook his head.

"It isn't our place to fight him again, we may have stopped him from reaching the castle of the two sisters but we can not interfere in what is going to happen." They all looked at the huge robot in question.

"And you would know this how?" Asked a slightly annoyed Krystal.

"I can't explain that right now, you have to trust me on this. We can't get involved further!" Thane shook his head and tried to walked around his cousin, only to be stopped as a blast shot in front of him, hitting the ground. "That was a warning Thane, we can't get involved anymore."

"Why?" Thane asked in an authoritative tone.

"Some things need to happen, please, stand down." Nathan begged.

"Not happening, we swore to protect these ponies, and that's what we're going to do." Thane tried walking around again only to be flung at a rock as Nathan smacked him with his arm cannon. Thane just sat up and looked at Nathan in anger.

"I'm sorry Thane, but if I need to fight you to make sure the sequence of events remains, I won't hesitate." Nathan began to grow, surprising the group. Once he reached three times his normal size he slammed his fist into the ground.

Thane got up and activated his energy blades, the other rangers taking defensive stances. They all stared each other down until Thane charged forward, causing the rest to do the same. Nathan held out his cannon and shot a large beam at the group, hitting them all. Thane jumped out of the blast with his shield generator and continued to run at the giant robot.

Nathan noticed this and swung his cannon at Thane, only for him to jump over it. Expecting this, Nathan grabbed Thane in the air and slammed him into the ground. Thane them sunk his blades into the robots hand and cloaked. Running up Nathan's arm he began to furiously swipe at his torso. Nathan quickly turned causing Thabe to be flung off and be hit with a barrage of missiles, heavily damaging him and rendering him unable to move.

Nathan turned to the three others who looked at their friend in shock. Krystal growled in anger and pulled out her gravity-bomb launcher. As she charged she felt something grab her shoulder. Looking back she saw it was Katie who was shaking her head. They all looked to Nathan who had an ashamed look on his face. He waved at them before jumping down the cliff and landing with a resounding clang.

He began walking towards the chaotic town. 'If I let the group fight Discord they'd kill him, I can fight him to stall for the sisters.'

Nathan came face to face with Discord in the middle of the town. Both stared at each other before charging forward.

He snapped out of his vision and stared at the moon. "I may be a little gun crazy, can become insane during battle, even get a little insensitive. However, I still care for my friends and family. I will always regret that day, it still haunts me up to now." He turned away and began heading to the door he had found that led to the roof in the first place.

As he was walking he felt a presence in the wind, one that haunted him ever since he had landed in Equestria. Turning around he saw the see-through glowing figure standing there. It was wearing a blue dress with a small white apron, it's hair was long and brown at it had a sad smile on its face.

"Of course you'd still be around. Why wouldn't you be...mother?" The figure just continued to give him that small sorrowful smile. It then burst into flames and slowly began to become ashes that blew away in the wind.

"I've never fallen so far from where I've been, this road is ending, but a new one begins. I try to wash way my sins, like ashes in the wind." With that line said he turned away and walked down the stairs, leaving the burning ghost to fade away.

Author's Notes:

There is a deeper meaning to the burning ghost, Nathan had a darker past than the rest of Phoenix ever knew.