Stormy mind was still buzzing about his little brother words, what truth?, does it had to do something with the Princess condition when she was being treated on this hospital?, ever since she read that medical report about her she panicked and acted as if she wanted to contain or deal with something alone. The door with Luna cutie mark on it was closed and only Mistshine had the key.

Behind that door, Luna was fighting with all her strength against Nightmare Moon, against her own past, the image of all her anger, hatred and despair was in front of her, Luna kept using the rusty pipe, but Nightmare only dodged the attack, Luna made a mistake during her attempts to hit the creature, leaving herself open to an attack, thing that Nightmare didn’t miss and launched a magical blast to the princess, as she screamed from direct hit she took, Stormy mind and heart skipped a beat, almost as he could hear her from the other side of the door.

“Mistshine, please I need the key! “ Stormy was getting worried about the princess, so he begged his brother.

“Sorry mister, but you are not ready yet to face the truth,“ Mistshine walked away with the key to the director office

“P-please, brother don’t go! “Stormy started to cry and followed him.

Mistshine ignored the tears of his big bro and opened the door to the director office, the strange thing is that there was no other exit from that room, the room itself was empty with no trace of Mistshine, almost as he evaporated into thin air, and he is no unicorn to do the Teleport spell, could it be the truth is in this room?, He took a quick look on the door that leads toward the princess and prayed for her return as he entered the director office the door closed behind him.

Stormy used his illumination spell to see again in the dark, but something came into his mind, if Mistshine disappeared like that, maybe he can too and help Luna, he tried to focus and do the basic spell of teleportation, but no matter how hard he concentrated and though about the Princess, the spell didn’t even came up.

“Ok, first an afraid Glass Mare and now this, can you give me a break?!” Stormy exclaimed to the sky, frustrated.

“Yaaaaaaay” a soft voice echoed the room.

There was something on the director table it was the Posey doll, used as paperweight holding down what it looks like a videotape, there was a label on the tape that reads “ play me “, Stormy looked at a TV that was near the office, it had a VHS recorder connected, the stallion walked towards it...

“CRANK!” a loud metallic sound alerted him

“OH HORSEAPPLES!” Stormy yelled as he felt his weight dragging him down.

Stormy reacted quickly and grabbed into the edge of the hole his body weight made on the fence, he did not noticed that the fence was actually extremely weakened, by some strange aspect it kept raining on the area except were the TV was, meaning that weather has weakened the previously rusted fence floor, Stormy had the idea of trying to levitate the tape into the VHS and playing it from afar, but the water can mess up the tape.

“Im not a pegasi to get rid of this rain, but maybe I can,” Stormy said to himself, having an idea.

Stormy shielded the tape with a bubble spell he learned from Shinning Armor room, and guided the tape towards the VHS, once it reached he undo the bubble and quickly insert the tape and pressed the button, by miracle it worked, the beginning of the video was emitting static, after a while the video cleared up, and showed the Director office, the office showed a very damaged state and screams could be heard on the background., the doctor Butterscotch started to speak.

“There is nothing else we could do Princess Celestia, your sister condition cannot be reversed unless a huge amount of magic is required, princess we are talking to levels that surpass even yours, why didn’t you came and visited your sister for once time at least? “ The doctor looked sad and scared as he continued “Why did you abandon your only sister?, the only possible way to keep her conscious was, to always have somepony next to her, due to medical reasons, the pony that was keeping her company grew sick and we had to intervene, please Celestia, forgive us for not being able to --- “

The video then shows the door busting in flames, as a semi-corrupted Luna jumped towards the doctor as the video started to again, lose the image and going into static, some images were flashing on the screen, the doctor screaming in agony as Luna’s mane was breaking his bones, the nurse ponies running, only to be caught by the princess, but what it was worse, was, that she was transforming more and more into Nightmare moon, during all of this, the very last image, was Nightmare moon, stepping as hard as possible on the camera, as the video ended and ejected the tape.

Stormy was speechless, by the looks of it the princess, the mare he had a crush on had killed all those ponies 1000 years ago?, that can’t be true!, his heart said, but his mind was conflicted, telling him “She did kill them“ , Stormy put his hooves on his head, trying to clear his mind, the screams of the patients and doctors still rang on his brain. If Luna did killed all those pony, why is not written on the Equestrian History?, even if Celestia wanted to keep that part hidden, there could not be any way in Equestria that would remain hidden forever.

There was something on the video that it was off however, there was no blood, usually if you kill somepony, the blood will stay on your hooves, like what happened when he held the Glass Mare hoof, the walls would be splattered if the victim was crushed, that leads Stormy to think that maybe, when she became nightmare, she was trying to ask for help, but her actions turned into fear and chaos, maybe she didn’t kill all those ponies?, he took out his ocarina before his mind drove him insane and played the Unicorn’s path, the song effects covered all the room, and revealed it’s true looks, it was black, and burned, most of the books in the bookshelf were illegible and the TV was actually broken the floor that had the weakened fence was not actually broken, the original floor had holes in it as well, but most important of all, there was something in the bookshelf that caught Stormy attention, it was a very old newspaper clip, it was legible enough to read, Stormy sat on an old chair nearby.

“Lunar Implosion on Canterlot Hospital“ the title explained “a fire was reported on Canterlot hospital, the cause of the explosion was a huge burst of fire magic, there are several ponies injured, but fortunately “ Stormy smile grew “no tragic victims” but as quickly as the smile appeared on his face, it disappeared when he read the last lines of the report “ only one pony resulted with several fractures, and is possible that he will be unable to walk again, the victim name was Doctor Butterscotch, the one responsible of taking care of Princess Luna, which current location is unknown “

“This newspaper,“ Stormy said to himself as he read the date “is from 1000 years ago, when Luna was banished but she is blaming herself of what happened to Butterscotch, and she is thinking that she---“

Stormy froze, he was a very smart one and he could feel the fear Luna was feeling, trying to contain that part of herself, her guilt, pain and suffering, he will not let Luna to face those things alone, especially when she helped him already a lot. Stormy turned back to the door to return to the examination room, even if he have to take the door down, he will help Luna, as soon as he placed a hoof on the doorknob a soft “ yay “ was heard along with a foal giggle, The effects of the unicorn path had already ended.

Stormy saw on the desk that the Posey doll had the key with Luna cutie mark and the newspaper clip had disappeared, Stormy picked up the key just as the doll slowly crumble into dust, it was not the original, after all, he carries the original one, Stormy exited the director office and used the key on the marked door, the door opened, just to be received by a huge amount of purple mist.

Below, The princess was fighting the Black Alicorn, also know as Nightmare Moon, each magic blast she launched, it passed right thought her, but Luna had the worst part, her wings were already wounded and her legs showed several cuts, The Black Alicorn on the other hand, didn’t looked harmed at all, Stormy yelled the princess name, falling down fast, but he was inside his spiked bubble spell, as expected he bounced and ran over the Black Alicorn, of course this draw both mares attention, but specially the Black Alicorn, she changed target and launched herself to Stormy.

“Stormy, behind you! “ Luna yelled, launching another magical blast at the creature

“I noticed! “ Stormy jumped dodging the creature attack, undoing his bubble and coming near the princess.

“Having that little colt won’t help you, you will accept your fate, and is to be alone, the daylight is not needed,“ The Black Alicorn replied, appearing before them ready to attack them at close range.

“You are wrong!” Luna said holding her hooves on her head, trying to make the enemy influence out of her mind

“Luna… “ Stormy took out his ocarina again, playing it in the middle of the battle leaves him wide opened “I will play the Unicorn Path, when you have the chance to attack the real her, attack her, it worked before, I will work again!“

“Stormy… I “ Luna wanted to apologize for her previous behavior, but she was interrupted by Stormy

“I already know Princess, I trust you with my life besides---“ Said Stormy with a smile “ Being my job or not, I will always be there for you, no matter what happens “

Stormy knew the risk of playing the song in the middle of a heated battle, but he needed to do this, if his supposition was correct, the purple mist from the castle was this same mare, and if he is correct, Luna won’t be able to do a thing as long as it is protected by that illusion.

As he played the ocarina, the magical effects of the song became notorious over Nightmare Moon, and Luna was able to see the true form of her attacker, her body was the same from Luna’s nightmares, her coat color was a very dark violet, almost next to black, just that she had her eyes missing, and had multiple dark red areas on her body, indicating bloodstains, she had a broken green with blue armor, helmet included, but weird enough, it had skeletal design, her mane and tail were grey colored with white sparks, but her mouth had fangs, her cutie mark was a red full moon with grey clouds surrounding it, but, the Black Alicorn Ribs were exposed and they were sharp, and her wings although they were capable of maintaining flight, didn’t had many advantages since they looked like a bunch of feathers were missing, Luna shot a magic blast at her, and it did hit her this time, the ancient song was making her vulnerable, the Black Alicorn started to bleed it’s black blood on the fence floor recovering from the concoction of the forced landing.

“Luna, don’t waist time!” Stormy mentioned, keeping the ancient song effect active

“Oh no you don’t “ The Black Alicorn instantly used a fire magic

The fire surrounded Stormy, he tried to exit the fire ring but the flames grew higher each time he tries to jump, if he cancel the ancient song to get out using the teleport spell the magic of the place they are will cancel it anyway, the Black Alicorn will have the advantage, the fence below Stormy´s hooves started to grow hot, he tried a bubble spell to protect himself, but the songs of harmony consumes a huge amount of magic, so much he cannot use another spell while he is playing them, the creature using her dark magic, creating a translucent bubble that held the stallion trapped inside with the fire, Stormy could not break it from the inside, he tried to put out the flames with his raincoat, but his raincoat caught the fire, the air inside the little bubble was starting to lose oxygen, Stormy manage to pull out the flames from his raincoat, but continue to concentrate on keeping the magic going

“auch auch, sweet Tartarus this is hot! “ Stormy said, keeping the effect going

“I’m coming! “ Luna changed direction to the bubble

“Luna forget it!, this is a distraction, notice how my magic wasn’t blocked? “ Stormy said coughing a little

Luna launched to attack the bubble, ignoring Stormy request to attack the creature, The Black Alicorn took advantage of this and flew towards the princess, she used her exposed ribs to injure Luna’s wings, the princess felt a penetrating pain circulating her body, she could not fly or even hover with both wings damaged, time was getting short, as the air in the bubble started to run low, and it was filling completely with smoke, Stormy lay on the ground, trying to breathe as little as necessary, he remembered the Song of Time he found in the archives, but if Luna is not next to him, she will be affected, Stormy could only watch as the princess was fighting, keeping the truth reveal magic on.

Luna was getting worried, watching Stormy body grew weak to both, the magic exhaustion and the lack of air, she changed the things a little bit, and used her pipe as a boomerang, the creature obviously dodged the attack, but noticed the steel pipe was coming back, but towards the bubble, as she flew as fast as possible to stop it, Luna saw her perfect chance to counter attack and cause a huge damage. Using her magic, she made the pipe froze in mid air, and heads towards the Black Alicorn, the creature noticing this hit the brakes and tried to dodge but the pipe stabbed her in her torso, where the exposed ribs were, the creature let out a distorted scream, as she caught a little blood, Luna shoot a magical bullet towards the bubble, making it break, the smoke disappeared quickly and Stormy was recovering, the fire itself, without being contained, could not cause suffocation, but it could cause burns, Luna used a teleporting spell to take him out of the fire ring, but instead of it a bubble shield appeared. Stormy roll over Luna side and kept the effect on with his magic, the black alicorn was suffering the pain from her wound.

“Looks our roles“ Stormy cough a little, getting more air each time he opened his mouth “ has been reversed since we met, right princess? “

“You may say that, but we will discuss that later“ Luna was smiling but also exhausted by the use of constant magic blast on the Black Alicorn

“I……..h…..a……….ven´t…. died…….. you….. will…….ne……ver…….get rid of ME…. IM… YOU….YOU ARE….ME!! “

Those words came from the creature, it still had Luna pipe on her torso, making her lungs fill with blood, and her heart was stabbed, Stormy and Luna didn’t hesitated and launched to attack her, Stormy gave Noirstar´s Sword to Luna, as he bucked with his back hooves the Black Alicorn on her face, making her lose balance, Luna then pierced again the Alicorn exposed part with such strength, the handle of the sword even got inside her wicked heart, and the blade exited on the back of their foe and the fence floor they were in, also Luna’s horn got nailed on the creature throat, the black blood of the alicorn stained Luna’s hooves and part of her mane, Stormy stopped the song effects, and when it ended, the creature was still as she was just that her blood turned red, Stormy saw how Luna took the sword and raised it, but a quick look at her eyes showed a tint of malice, before Luna could strike a corpse, he placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder, both saw that the creature was no longer drawing breath.

“S-she is still right about me you know?, she is a part of me I can’t erase,” Luna said, a little sadden but tired of the ordeal.

“I know.” Stormy said, hugging the princess “But whatever happens, I will be there, and if you lose control, I will also be there to bring you back”

“But what if it is true?, If I became her again? “ Luna questioned, still not letting the stallion go

“You won’t “Stormy replied firmly

“But“ She tried to think on the future, but Stormy placed a hoof kindly in her mouth to interrupt her

“You won’t, I know it and I will be by your side “Stormy said, smiling to the princess

He learned a few things from Pinkie Pie, especially when somepony need to be treated with kindness and care, but also, she taught Stormy to how to make things better with a smile, After picking up their equipment Luna looked confused as how her companion approached the corpse of the Black Alicorn, it seems she decomposed quickly, leaving her skeleton behind, with his magic moved the jaws of this one as in a puppet display.

“Oh hey Luna just for you to know, I will keep myself asleep, because I’m lazy and I don’t want to have my flank kicked by a crazy stallion with mental issues “ Said Stormy, trying to imitate the Black Alicorn voice

“Pfffff….” Luna put a hoof in her mouth trying to contain the laughter form that display

“Also, I forgot the cake in the oven, maybe Celestia already ate it along with it, silly me “ Stormy said, dropping the corpse

“Hahahahaha! “ Luna laughed, making her felt relieved

“ hehehe” Stormy moved his hoof to a side, and from out of nowhere, he took another pony skull, and made a made it talk with his magic, saying something like “look at me, I’m Miss Bones, say hi kids nyehehehehe“

“hahaha, stop it” Luna laughed again feeling better

Their laughs cut short, as the skull bit Stormy hoof, Stormy lose concentration of his magic and let the skull drop on the floor, that’s when he saw how the skull bounced until was picked up by a hoof, he turned around and he found the skull belonged to the Skeletal mare, the same one that had stolen his sword, but there was something different, she didn’t have flesh on the wings anymore, they looked torn apart from her , instead, only the skeleton was, her cutie mark, and flesh on her body persisted, her front and back hooves also looked like bones, as soon as she placed her skull back in place, the flesh covered it, returning her angered look, her eyes were all black, no red dot or anything, also her wings regenerated themselves, she raised Stormy’s sword, Luna used his magic to pull him out of the sword reach.

“ What the---!?” is she the creature that stole your sword?” Luna asked a little surprised

“Yep” Stormy confirmed, taking out Noirstar sword

“You cannot escape your sins also you are not funny, prepare for a wild ride.” The Skeletal Mare said, launching herself towards both ponies

Is unusual for the Skeletal Mare to crack a joke before attacking, before she didn’t even talked much. Being a Pegasus, she had speed, but that is the thing, if she is missing the feathers, why on in Equestria is she able to fly with featherless wings?, Luna took out her rusty pipe, to defend herself, but one powerful blow from Stormy’s Sword, manage to break it, Luna was opened for a attack, The Skeletal Mare tried to bite her, however Stormy shoot a magic blast to it and sent the creature flying towards the mirror on the room shattering it, the pieces of the mirror felt on the creature flesh, Luna and Stormy took this opportunity to go up the stairs, and exit through the door, as the door closed, Stormy used his last bit of magic to take down a closet filled with out of date medicines to block the path.

When they returned the reception, it looked normal, almost as if killing the Black Alicorn returned the hospital to it’s previous state, but the strange thing was the door to the main exit was changed, it had a different design, next to it there was the bed where Stormy put the Glass Mare corpse, he was completely sure the bed was in the hallway though, the stallion came closer to the bed and lifted the bed sheet just to find the corpse was no longer there, in her place there were a few apples and a bandage kit, a way to say thank you perhaps?. Luna and Stormy open the door after patching themselves up with the bandage kit, there was a very potent light, that made both close their eyes and move forward.

Once the light started to fade and both ponies eyes adjusted to the picture they had in front of them, Stormy and Luna saw, that they were no longer in Canterlot, they were able to see the Statue of Friendship of the horizon, a lot of tall buildings that were like apartment buildings and even theaters, Luna tried to open the door that leads to the hospital, trying to see if that would send them back to Canterlot, but the doorknob felt, it was broken, a few steps away let them know they were in the Manehattan Hospital, a nearby map gave Stormy the hints he needed to figure out where he was, his mind froze as he saw the name

“Stormy are you ok?, where are we? “ Luna asked trying to talk with her companion

“We are in Manehattan“ Stormy said with a mixture of sadness and fear in his voice.

Stormy stored the map on his saddlebags however, Luna could notice Stormy was not happy about being in his hometown, Stormy noticed the big buildings, commercial stores, even libraries and restaurants, all of them covered by the same fog as in Canterlot, it was safe to say this weather was not something normal but there is not much that can be done with it at this point anyway. The radio didn’t took long to start emitting a sound, warning the ponies of a creature presence, they started to look on the streets to see if something was coming but nothing could be draw in the horizon.

The radio increased the volume and with this alert, both ponies looked up, they noticed several Ceiling Fillies on the rooftops, they used the power lines to run towards the princess, Stormy ran again along with Luna, Stormy looked a little afraid, as he ran, several voices rang in his head, the creatures reached quickly to them, but used Luna as a trampoline and jumped towards Stormy, Stormy was out of magic, but in panic he cannot eat apples to restore it, so does the princess, besides she couldn’t fly, her wings were still wounded and she haven’t treated them, sure the bandages had stop the bleeding but she needed more than that, Stormy afraid used the sword on the creatures in a quick Spin Attack, didn’t take long for them to fall on the ground beheaded, their blood splattered the stallion hooves and part of his face, triggering flashbacks of his nightmares, dropping his weapon.

Stormy he tried to make it go away from his coat, rubbing his hooves together and using his raincoat to dry himself up, but the blood did not go away, Luna however, could see Stormy was clean, knowing perfectly well what is happening, the princess came closer to him and slap him with her hoof, making him come into his senses

“Stormy, calm down, you are getting me worried, ever since we came here, you have been acting strange, what the hay is wrong with you?! “ Luna was getting angry, awaiting response

“Princess, I’m sorry, this town, my hometown, it brings back so many bad memories that I don’t want to be here“ Stormy admitted towards the royal princess, but starting to calm himself up

“I understand, but acting like that will be very reckless, you know this place better than anyone, is there is a place we can rest for a moment? “Luna said, her wounds were starting to affect and bother her already.

“t-there is my house princess,” Stormy replied, feeling a little bit better.

As Stormy and Luna walked towards Stormy´s fillyhood house, it started to rain without any pegasus intervention, using the map Stormy manage to get to the street that leads towards his house however, to their surprise the road was destroyed, just like in Canterlot.

The map was getting wet and there is no replacements for it, there is one alternative route they can take in to get to Stormy’s house, is passing through a commercial center, it was easy recognizable because it had a giant horseshoe on the roof, and it was next to a giant building with a pony head on top and the best hotel in the town, once they manage to enter from the main doors, both ponies blocked the main entrance to avoid any unwanted guest.

The placed looked empty at least, it might take them a while to reach their destination, Luna sit on a nearby bench, tired of all the running so far, her body could not resist anymore her wounds started to tire her, Stormy sat next to her and searched on her saddlebags for something to cure her, he found the bandages, and carefully extended the princess wings, ironically the princess was getting used to being patched up by a stallion, a former Lunar Guard. In the past, Celestia was the one that patched Luna up during her battles against Discord or even King Sombra, feeling the way that somepony was taking care of her was a little relaxing, Stormy wasn’t too wounded fortunately, he carefully placed the bandages on the princess wings and tight them up a little to stop the bleeding, Luna was blushing because she knew her wings wasn’t the only place she had cuts, Stormy started to cover her wounds in all her body while the princess could only blush, he took out his sword and stored it on Luna saddlebag as he worked.

“Thanks, guess you retook you role as guardian? “ she giggled a little, blushing from the treatment the stallion gave her

“hehehe, what kind of stallion would I be if I let you wounded? “ Stormy said as he step down from the bench and sat on the floor for Luna to climb on him “Come on, I will carry you over, until you get some rest “

“I appreciate the offer, but I can walk on my own “ Luna said coming down from the bench

The adrenaline rush from before made the princess don’t feel pain, but as soon as she placed a hoof on the floor, reality kicked in, she was in no conditions to run or walk for that matter, she just had defeated the Black Alicorn after all and her wounds are still fresh, Stormy placed her on his back, keeping her secure, he took a bite from one of the green apples he had, making him recover enough magic to make sure Luna could be on Stormy back without falling, Luna on the other hoof, took a drink from the energy drink, although it made her felt better the taste of the drink was not top quality, either way, she rested a while, as Stormy walked, trying to find the exit to the alleys.

It was really strange that there was no monsters on such a big place, anypony in that kind of hell will be praying to Celestia to do not find a creature, but the place was deserted from both creatures and ponies, Stormy noticed on one of the stores, a music shop to be exact, 3 book of harmony pages, he won the lottery, as he entered the store with Luna on his back, he noticed the 3 pages each of them demanded some sort riddle to open the container, but they were easy ones, as the riddles referred to the items he had collected so far.

One page reads “ Pegasus Storms “ which allows to make it rain, since the clouds will generate above the user or target, the larger the cloud the bigger the magic required, careful with lighting bolts though, the other song was called “ Equestria’s Soul “, It was a joyful song that revitalized anypony in close range, if used on a earth pony, their stamina will recover, if used on a pegasus, their tiredness will go and speed will increase for a short time, and used on a unicorn, it will recover all his magic, he could use it to recover the princess.

Luna indicated that the song itself require little magic, and with one green apple on his tummy, Stormy have half capability, he was thinking of eating his last apple, but the princess, strangely enough, stop him, saying that is better to save it in emergency, and same thing with the song, the last song was called “ Minuet of Everfree “ and according to the princess, is one of the few dangerous songs on the book, since it allows to control plants and nature, but if the users mind is not concentrated or the magic is too weak, the plants could attack the user instead. Stormy did not try any of the songs but solved the riddles involving an apple, Posey Doll and Noirstar Sword. Once he had all the pages he restored them on the book and stored it on his saddlebags.

“Eleven pages to go “Stormy said, leaving the store

“How come the book is missing pages?, I remember that it was whole on the Royal Treasury,“ Luna stated, remembering where the book used to be

“I don´t know, I found It on the library back in Canterlot, only the Winds of Friendship song was there, wait, the book was in the Royal Treasury? “ Stormy was surprised, since the Treasury 1000 yeas ago, was located on the Old Castle in the middle of the Everfree Forest.

“ Yes, the book was created by Starwhirl the Bearded most faithful student descendant, Clover The Clever VII,“ Luna mentioned, as if she was present on the creation of the book

“I see, it is a surprise that it still works, let me guess, you and Celestia were already born by then? “ Stormy asked the princess

“Of course, but I had like 4 years that time, Clover the Clever VII died of old age, creating that book, “ Luna replied, remembering the time she was able to see that old pony when she was just a little filly princess.

“This book has been very helpful, so I think is worth the try to return it to its original state, especially if Clover the Clever put so much effort in creating it in the first place,“ Stormy said exiting the music store.

Stormy took the steel pipe just in case he had to fight a monster, Luna was already recovering a little strength and her wounds started to close, is amazing to Stormy how quickly Luna was recovering, then again she is an Alicorn, her stamina, magic and strength surpass a normal pony though. Stormy got to the first floor of the mall, in there was an exit to the alleys, but it was locked with a key.

“Uuugh, again?, this is getting ridiculous!” both ponies vent their frustration as they now have to search for the key.

Stormy used the elevator to go directly to the offices department, since that’s where the manager of the mall was and hence the master key for the mall, Luna asked him, how did he know?, but he replied that, she was right in something, Manehatten was his hometown, he spend his fillyhood in there so he knows it like his back hoof, when they finally got to the office the radio emitted static, Stormy wanted to avoid fighting since he have Luna on his back, but the princess also took out Noirstar sword, indicating she still had some magic left to still wield the weapons, Stormy looked up, no monsters on the roof, besides the door was broken, but there was also no monster on front, back or the sides.

“The fact we are not seeing anything is keeping me on an edge Luna,” Stormy could feel a chill going down his spine.

Luna simply nodded in response to the guard feelings, once he entered the manager office, he saw a new monster clearly a mare, perfectly formed and beautiful to the eyes, but the skin was made of plastic, normally Stormy would have no problems attacking it so he raised his pipe, but saw the monster in more detail, she had purple mane and tail, but red coat color, she had the eyes and mouth covered up with a bandage, preventing her to see or scream, but could hear everything very well, it was a visible Earth Pony and it seems she seems to be wearing a bracelet and damaged clothes, her cutie mark was a lipstick but behind it a sad pony silhouette.

“No, no, no, no!” Stormy said to himself, dropping his guard and attack stance.

The mare was carrying over a rusty steel pipe and the creature didn’t made things easy for him either, since she was walking on a very seductive way towards him and strangely enough, she looked like a totally normal pony. From the Princess point of view however, she knew it was a monster, since the bandages were bloodstained, like if she was crying tears of blood, also she had some scars on the visible parts of her body, but from Stormy point of view, it was if he was looking to another survivor and immediately felt for her charms.

Luna tried to make Stormy comeback to his senses, but the mare was clearly taking advantage of the situation, she raised her weapon and attacked, but she stopped for a moment just inches away from Stormy body.

“Grow?” her voice sounded cracked and started sniffing the stallion.

“Get away from him you foul creature!” Luna yelled as she swing the sword.

The creature seems to hiss at them when she caught Luna scent and managed to hit Stormy with the steel pipe, that was enough to make him wake up from his trance, the creature attacked again but Stormy blocked it’s attack with his own pipe, Luna saw her opening and attacked the creature, that is when the creature appearance started to change in a way, each hit, made the creatures skin to break, revealing underneath coat-less flesh and part of a bone, typical traces of burned flesh when somepony gets burned alive, the creature used its steel pipe to attack again, but this time, Stormy hit her face with the pipe, when he raised his hoof with the pipe to give her another hit, the creature used her back hooves to attack but contrary to a normal buck, this monster seems to have gymnastic capabilities as the hits were several with them, successfully hitting Stormy on his face and stunning him, he was taking quite a lot of damage, since earth ponies are know for their stamina and strength.

The creature tried to jump towards Luna, that’s when both saw their opportunity and attacked at the same time, Luna stabbed the sword on the creature chest, a loud crack was heard when that happened, Stormy hit the creature with a horizontal attack, hitting it on the neck, another crack was heard, indicating that the “ plastic “ skin broke on her neck, and furthermore, breaking the creature neck, the creature felt on the floor and Stormy tried to finish it but he looked at the bracelet the creature had, he stopped completely. Stormy felt dizzy and had to sit on the floor for a while, Luna took chance and finished the creature off painlessly, it was obvious this creature could be somepony he knew from before, or one of his darkest fears or could be that from the corpse of the creature, the bracelet was casting a powerful magic.

“That mare, I-i believe I know her from somewhere “ Stormy said, shaking his head, like if he had the migraine of the century

“This bracelet is a forbidden relic” Luna said as she saw each detail of the object the creature had in her hoof.

“Forbidden Relic? Explain, “ Stormy said confused, his mind was not clear enough to think for his own

“This is called; Deep Ambition bracelet.“ Luna’s knowledge indentified the ancient relic quickly; her expression though, was a sad one. “Is a magic bracelet that allow the user to be irresistible to the opposite gender but it also makes the user to become more sexually aggressive and greedy, all their desires will come to light, the user is not able to take the bracelet out himself, unless she does find the love of her life, which is almost impossible as this bracelet makes sure that others just focus on the body rather than the soul of the pony.“

“Sexual desires? But if those came to light, won’t that make the user lonely, seeing that the user is acting way too seductive,“ Stormy said as if he was remembering something, the headache was getting worse.

“You are right, most ponies would not want to find those kind of things in public, still the user has control over their desires and when to express them, but not over their actions.“ Luna replied with more details of the forbidden relic “For example, the user could control his/her sexual fantasies, but not the way she or he dresses, also, if the pony already has a lustful personality, this bracelet will have a very strong effect, even on ponies of the same gender, this thing was supposed to be on the bottom of the Neighagra Falls, why is it here? “

Stormy felt like if he knew the bracelet from before, but more specifically the monster, just like the Glass Mare he picked up the corpse and gave it a hug, he took the relic to see it for a moment then, a loud CLANK rang on Stormy mind, the bracelet had fallen off and with it, both ponies felt a strong pain in their heads, as if the object made a sound that goes straight to their brains, Stormy passed out on the floor and Luna on his back, everything faded to black as their senses were clouded.

In the deepest of darkness though, a voice could be heard, it was clearly a mare voice that spoke directly to Stormy, something in it made him feel calm, but also kept him uneasy.

“You came, I though all those words about me were lies my dear,” the voice said, with a distinguish echo.

“Of course I did love, I told you already, I love you, and I want to know the real you,” a younger colt voice also followed the mare voice.

“Hehe, you are looking at it my dear colt,” the mare voice let out a giggle while sounds of hoofsteps could be heard.

When the voices felt silent to the night, Stormy woke up, everything was different now, he was no longer on the Commercial Center, he was in an elementary school, he saw the name of the school from the window he was in, it reads

“Manehattan university? How did I get here? Luna?“ Stormy said scared and looked behind him and his eyes widen

Luna was not with him, he was very confused and worried for the princess, there was something he noticed, Ghost, several ghost fillies and ponies were in the room with him, he was in the old university from Manehattan. He tried to talk to the teacher but true to their ghostly nature, his hoof didn’t touch her, he could notice a little filly entering the classroom, it was a little mare, exactly as the monster he encountered before, but there was something different in her, something that let the stallion know that, it was not the Plastic Mare, her eyes, the filly cyan eyes were filled with kindness and compassion but her mouth and attitude reflected lust, greed and pride, also her coat was red color, and her mane and tail were purple with a shade of pink, also a pink ribbon was on back of her mane, also, her cutie mark was different, it was a lipstick lips, with the $ symbol on them, Stormy jaw nearly dropped as he saw himself sitting on the desk near the window, all the colts tried to ask the little filly out, the reason besides being heart and hooves day was let known by the teacher out loud.

“Alright fillies and gentlecolts, today we have a new classmate in our class today, she is Miss Redhoof Goldenscroll, she is the daughter of the Mayor Goldenscroll, so try to behave,“ the teacher introduced to the new classmate.

“Nice to meet you Redhoof, “ all the colts in the classroom welcomed her, obviously charmed

“The daughter of the mayor eh?” Said the little Stormy in the room, not charmed enought

“hmph, thanks I guess,“ Redhoof replied a little shy but mean in attitude.

The Stormy sitting on his desk, was a little older that the one he had previously saw on his apartment house in Canterlot or in the Hospital, the mare was almost the same age as him, and by some reason, they are the only “ghost“ in color, all the other ones are grey colored, Stormy came closer to the mare as if he remembered her from someplace, Redhoof passed right through him and sat down on the desk near his younger self, at that age, he remembered that his little bro Mistshine was in the kindergarten section.

“Hi, I’m Stormy Brave,“ the little Stormy replied to the new mare

“Redhoof” the mayor daughter replied without looking at him.

All the ghost disappeared as quickly as they came, Stormy now had a chance to check the classroom he was, all the desks had dust on them, indicating the state of decay in each one, the teacher desk was opened and Stormy found a notebook, in it, Redhoof Grades were recorded, a little genius she was, straight A in everything, when he was going to store the grade notes on his saddlebags, but he suddenly became pale and scared, all its contents are gone!, as he saw on the window, he saw a red pony with a bag, on the bag, the ocarina shape could be seen, that pony had all his items!, he tried to exit the room and recover them but it was locked from the outside.

“ Perfect,“ he released a little grunt at the situation.

There must be a spare key somewhere in the room right? Since he cannot get out from there via the front door, he checked another desk to find something useful, more precisely the one where his ghost was, he found there a little knife, is better than nothing right about now, then he checked Redhoof desk, he found a pink ribbon there, why a pink ribbon?, either way, he stored both things on his saddlebags.

As he inspected the classroom he found there was a second door behind the blackboard, it seems to lead towards another classroom, since he cannot obtain anymore items from the classroom he was in he went to the other one, the other classroom was more empty, the blackboard was erased and the door leading towards the passageway was wide opened, once there, he saw the red pony trotting towards the first floor, when Stormy followed her, the stairs towards the first floor was blocked by fallen desk, cardboard boxes and cabinets so he had to search for another route, he started to search on the second floor for another way down, he knew he was on the second floor because, he was able to see the big tree that was on the middle of the first floor courtyard, there was a map, placed on the closed door that leads towards the classroom he woke up from, he could use it to see specific places, as he saw the map, there was a place that caught his attention, it was the cargo elevator, it leads towards the storage and the hallway of the first floor.

As he was walking towards it, he set his mind of trying to find out why he is seeing those ghost, could be memories from his own past?, speaking of which, he saw the red pony ghost entering the elevator letting out a giggle, she did lay on the floor seductively before running towards it, Stormy ran and opened their steel doors, the pony was not there, there was 3 floors on the elevator, he pressed the first one, and the elevator took him to the chosen floor, once there, he noticed a lipstick mark on one of the walls.

“Wait a moment, this lipstick texture and color, I know it very well, only one pony I know would use it, wait no, was that red pony Redhoof? “ Stormy rationalized and reached to the conclusion about the pony that had his items.

He sure couldn’t forget the specific rosemary lipstick she always used and turned on the corner where the lipstick mark was, he reached to the door leading to the courtyard, as he looked at the lock, it was chained up, and the lock required a key, when he was about to leave to search for the key, he saw and heard voices coming form the courtyard, he took a look and saw the red pony, Redhoof, being bullied by other ponies, she was wearing a seductive attire, but most importantly her left hoof had the Deep Ambition bracelet, however, the ponies bulling her were mostly mares.

“Get away bitch! “ An older unicorn said, throwing stones at Redhoof with levitation

“No, stop, I’m not a bitch” Redhoof said, shielding herself the best she could behind the tree, her blue dress was starting to get dirty.

“Then explain those clothes, admit it!, you are just seducing young colts!“ said a pegasus mare, yelling at her.

“auch! Whaa! whoa! “ Redhoof yelled as she was suddenly grabbed and hit by a more stronger mare. A unicorn.

“All right you girls, make sure she learn her lesson about proper attire for a mayor descendant! Oh and about stealing other mares colts,“ said the big unicorn mare, with matters of a stick, she held Redhoof paralyzed and the others started beating her.

“Please help! Somepony! “ Redhoof plead for help, as the mares took the chance to buck her

Stormy tuned his head away when he saw the younger mares and some colts that didn’t felt under her seductive looks, throw stones at her with more strength, Stormy tried to intervene and launched a magical bullet between the bars but to no avail, he started to cry as if that mare was part of his past, as a matter of fact, he started to remember her he did remembered that scene in particular and duck a rock that was misfired, when she was bullied, Stormy remember he came to her aid, the magical bullet he launched before, passed right through them, he cursed not having the key, but then he saw something that made him smile, a counter spell for the paralysis, then a shield spell, the same spell he used on the Princess when he was on Canterlot Castle, but how?, he just learned the spell during this nightmare!, as he saw the tree, in one of the branches, there was his younger self, he let a smile, as his young image launched a fire spell, separating the bullies

“Leave her alone already!, are you by any chance better than her by doing this? “ Young Stormy said, defending the earth pony

“Did you felt under her enchantment?, she is a earth pony, she can’t make magic, neither seduce colts so easy! “ said a unicorn mare, her cutie mark was a book with a light bulb

“No, and you want to know why? because you can’t judge another pony for how they dress, or how they act, is the heart inside what counts, now I will ask nicely one more time, leave her alone “ Young Stormy pleaded again to the bullies.

A earth pony that Young Stormy had ignored, buck him on the face, making lose concentration of his spells, when the fire extinguish, they all went towards Redhoof, but Young Stormy, who clearly had a piss off look on his face by the bullies ignoring his plea, pulled one of the bullies from his tail and using his levitation spell, he send him flying towards the remaining ones, hitting them all, they quickly ran afterwards, Stormy helped Redhoof up, but one of the mares wanted more and flew towards Stormy, Redhoof quickly used Stormy body as a trampoline and buck the pegasi, sending her back to the pack of bullies, landing on the stallion back, they smiled to one another before all the ghost, including Redhoof and his younger self, disappeared, in their place the bag containing all of Stormy’s items was on one of the tree branches.

“Redhoof, now I remember, those were my memories of her, after this little problem we started knowing each other, we even played together most of the time along with Mistshine. Why in Equestria is this happening? Does this means everything here is just a dream?, I could have hit my head pretty hard on one sword training and I’m a coma or something” Stormy put his hooves on his head, more confused than ever.

As soon as he said coma though, he remembered his brother condition, he hit himself with his hoof hard, calling himself “stupid, stupid pony!, what kind of brother you are?!, there is no way you are in a coma!, if you where, who would take care of him?!, who will protect him?! “ he got himself up looking at a sign on the tree, still with tears in his eyes.

The sigh on the tree was too far away to read, since he was on the first floor now, he could start searching for the key if most of the doors weren’t damaged, cut down or blocked by furniture, as he walked in the empty corridors, he reflected upon the ghost appearances and of course the lack of monsters, could those ghost be memories he lost? Memories so long forgotten they are carving their way back into him?, or has he finally lost it and became crazy due to the events that have been happening recently?. He stopped and remembered the Glass Mare on the hospital, how scared she looked, how the Plastic Mare also stopped before attacking, even Skeletal Mare is now cracking jokes, these monsters are either evolving, or they are something else, something far worse that simple creatures trying to bite the flesh out of him and Luna.

He have to recovered his items though, he could use levitation to levitate the bag towards him, but not all items will fit thought the fence, that and the door seems to implement a magical lock that denies the use of magic while near it, he checked the bathroom of the first floor, as soon as he placed one hoof inside, he felt something cold, the bathroom was flooded, the water was enough to cover his horseshoes, he could felt like if there was something bad there, but he went in anyway.

The radio emitted a little static, alerting Stormy and placing him on guard stance, armed with the knife, he opened every door that leads to a toilet, but there was nothing on the bathroom that could trigger the radio, until he saw his reflection on the bathroom mirror, there was a pony crying on the last toilet, far from the door, Stormy could only see him using the mirror, so he used his magic to pull out the mirror and came closer to the crying pony.

“Hey kid, are you ok in there?” Stormy asked, knocking on the bathroom door.

The earth pony in the reflection did not replied, but as soon as Stormy placed a hoof on him to try to reason with him, the pony jumped and despise being a foal, manage to threw Stormy to the floor, he got up really quick and look again with the mirror, the earth pony was no longer there, but there was something on the toilet seat, Stormy levitated it and took a look, it was a key to a classroom, it read “ Classroom 3-D “, the kinder garden classrooms?, why there?.

“Ok, if I recall correctly, the classrooms were separated by floor number so if it reads 3-D it is the forth classroom in the third floor.” Stormy said to himself as he stored the key on his empty saddlebags.

With nothing else worth of interest in there, Stormy got out of the bathroom and walked towards the elevator, the fact that there was no monsters made him at least fell some sort of relief, besides his only weapon is a knife that could break if it was used with too much strength, he did check the other classrooms on the first floor, but besides destroyed desk and a weird smell of blood in the air, there was nothing out of place, he entered the elevator and pushed the little button with a 3 in it, using his magic, the elevator moved towards the third floor, once there, he checked the classrooms, most of them had little blocks or letters like ABC stuck on the walls, also, childish drawings were there, in one of the rooms however, Stormy found something out of place, it was one of the Harmony Pages, along with a drawing, made by a little colt, the drawing was 2 ponies in the middle of a big heart, both ponies seems to be holding hooves, as in the left side, there was one black pony smiling, for some reason, that black pony made Stormy felt uneasy, he then read the harmony page he found, it reads “Earth’s Pony Ballad“

“This song is filled with the passion and dedication of the earth ponies, it allow the user have more physical strength and stamina, just like if he or she were a combination of Earth Pony and the current race, but keep in mind that as long as the effect is in place, the user will be unable to use magic if he is a unicorn.“ the song description revealed the details about the spell it would cast

“So, quick version, I will be more resistant to attacks and deals more damage, but I will lose the possibility of use magic for a while, not the best option if I’m alone.“ Stormy replied to himself, rolling his eyes at the song side effects.

He stored both, the page and the drawing in his saddlebags and continues searching the classrooms, there was one thing in another room that caught the stallion attention, there was a working shower in the middle of the classroom, the door of the classroom reads “pony anatomy“, when he checked the shower, there was dry blood on the wall, but there was a Posey doll on the base of the shower, the same doll that Mistshine always hold when he got into comatose state, Stormy picked up and looked at it with a sad expression, it was dirty but it still made it’s soft “yay” sound when pressed.

“I’m positive this is insane taking into account what the hell is happening in this journey, but a nice cold shower might help me clear the head,” Stormy said with a smirk as he stepped into the shower.

Stormy opened the shower to try to clean himself and the doll up, but that is when he felt a sticky substance exiting the hose and wetting his body, he looked up to find out it was coagulated blood, he freaked out so much he hugged the doll tightly, he hit the wall with his plot but he felt something moving on his backside, he turned around to see and was greeted by the plastic mare.

“Ummm, hi?” Stormy attempted to say hi to the creature, expecting it to be friendly.

The mare hugged Stormy, he was paralyzed by this sudden reaction but woke up as soon as he felt the creature teeth on his neck, she was trying to bite him, with regret he levitated the knife and guide it towards the creature throat, with an audible crack the creature backed away and tried to attack with her weapon, Stormy stabbed the creature again, this time on her torso to get her off, it worked fortunately.

The plastic mare was making now a noise, not fully recognizable, due to her mouth bandage, but from the sounds of it, it looks like crying, the more damage Stormy did to her, the more louder the crying became, he attacked with the knife once more on her torso, and found out something he missed before, since she was using clothes, the only weak point of that creature was the torso and belly, those parts, covered by the clothes, are soft, normal in some way, the creature stop moving as soon as Stormy used his knife on that weak spot, but sadly for him, the knife broke, do to the strength he used, now he was unarmed, and the creature on the floor, with all previous wounds, was on the floor, immobile, he quickly exited the room and took the Posey doll with him, his mind was already starting to shatter in pieces.

“Great I’m unarmed and with a strong scent of old blood in my body, uuugh I need a shower” he said with disgust and frustration in his voice.

Walking around with a bright crimson suit is not the best of ideas against monsters that can smell you, he remembered the third floor had an emergency bathroom for the foals when they needed a quick clean up after P.E Class. He searched for that shower and when he found it he let a sigh of relief since the water was normal, he quickly undid his saddlebags and raincoat and started cleaning himself up, he has to admit it having a shower was what he needed at the moment, while he reflected on what was happening on the building, not before closing the door to make sure no unwanted guest appears.

There was no monsters other than the Plastic Mare, and she seems to stop for a moment at him before attacking, he took the chance to clean the Posey doll he had with him, he was more calmed and relaxed that he did not notice something sneaking behind him, Stormy turned around just to find what it seems to be a ghost of Redhoof, the soap and hot air of the shower did not let him see well, but his skin could feel that this ghost however, was tangible, scared he tried to use magic as his only means of defense since he had no weapons anymore, but the ghost touched his horn softly, Stormy stopped cold.

“R-redhoof, b-but you” Stormy said with a shocked expression, but with a blushed face.

“Need help with that monster on your legs love?” Redhoof ghost said with lust in her eyes, but kindness on her voice.

Redhoof ghost grabbed Stormy horn and pulled the stallion face closer to hers and kissed him, Stormy was shocked but more importantly, surprised as the tongue of this apparition was not only real, but soft and tender to the touch, for just a second, he wanted to believe there was no possible way this could end bad for him, so he closed his eyes, guiding himself by the memories in his heart. When he opened his eyes however, the ghost that belonged to Redhoof was nowhere to be seen and the pink ribbon that was in his saddle bags was in the floor where she was.

“Figures,” he said a little upset, but smiling with a slight blush, almost as if he was expecting that.

Once he finished his “relaxing” shower if you could call it like that, he set route and found the 3-D classroom, and used the key he found before, the door opened without any problems, once inside he did not find any items, but more ghost, this times there were not foals ghost, they were police colts and teachers, there was only one foal there, himself, crying, but he had multiple cuts and wounds in his body, not too serious, and there was one little colt that was being taken by the hospital, Stormy looked at that foal, and he saw on his hoof, the Posey doll, he felt a cold fear, running on his spine as the door closed, the adult ghost seems to be having a discussion about something.

“How could this happen? Where did you find him? “ the teacher asked Young Stormy about the colt

“Here, he was not moving!, just crawling, I’m telling you!, I saw him!, a black colt!, he did this to my brother! “ Young Stormy kept crying but pointing towards the edge of the room.

“You were the only one here little one, how are we so sure that you didn’t do this to your brother? “ one of the police colts asked the crying colt

“What in Equestria are you saying!?” Young Stormy voice changed to an angry yet sad voice, caring little for the authority in front of him “ How do you dare thinking for a second that I did this to my little brother!? “ his anger was starting to affect him seriously.

“Really agent Keeneye?, that’s was uncalled for “ one of the Police colts said to his companion, not approving his actions

“I’m just saying officer Silverbadge, he was the only one here right? “ Keeneye replied

“No,” Young Stormy replied “there was other pony, one I saw leaving, the one that made me this scars and attacked my brother! “ Still sounding depressed, Young Stormy raised his voice again

“Give me the name son“ Silverbadge asked with curiosity.

“You will never believe me, I’m sure he had bought you too, “ Young Stormy said with now an air of disgust in his voice.

“Kid, trust me, We will find the truth, tell me the name, please “ Keeneye asked Young Stormy one more time.

“Fine!, you want to know the name?!, It was Blackhorn Goldenscroll!, my marefriend brother and the son of the mayor!, are you happy now!? “ Young Stormy finally snapped, revealing the name, screaming to the top of his lungs.

An awkward silence filled the room, Stormy seeing his younger self ghost reaction couldn’t hold it anymore, as he remembered that name, a name that he was sure he had forgotten out of trauma, he hugged again the Posey doll tightly, as he remembered his first encounter with that pony, one that did not precisely ended on a happy note.

Author's Notes:

Color added, thanks for the patience